Lord Paul sees India emerging as manufacturing hub
The Hindu reported that Lord Swaraj Paul sees that India is set to emerge as a major manufacturing power house.
While acknowledging that investment in India is likely to fall in the short to medium term because of a decline in economic growth, Lord Paul reaffirmed his commitment to India and said that his company, the multinational Caparo Group, would continue to invest in his native country. He said speaking on BBC's Hardtalk program that "I still have no doubt that we would be able to turn India into a manufacturing power house."
Asked whether investment would slow down, especially after the Mumbai attacks, he said it was bound to but not to the extent that some predicted. He said that "But I don't think it is going to be as bad as people think because lot of people including foreign investors are of my view that this waking up of the government is going to come only by the anger of the people and not because of some foreign investors."
Lord Paul, however, warned that 2009 would be a difficult year for Indian with economic growth likely to plummet to about 5% because of the global meltdown. He said that "My view is that we may see 5% to 5.5% economic growth. I think it will go down further because India at this moment in the manufacturing industry is not very different from the experience you had in Britain and the US," adding that it might take time for investor confidence to return.
« Back
|