‘Don’t single out India, other developing nations on corruption’
26 Jan 2013 10:56 PM GMT
Terming corruption and frauds as a worldwide menace, Union Minister Anand Sharma has said it was unacceptable to single out India and other developing economies for these issues, as he assured the global investors of New Delhi's commitment to an institutional mechanism to address these concerns.
After meeting about two dozen CEOs of global companies on the sidelines of World Economic Forum Annual Meeting here on Thursday night, Sharma said these companies are looking at India very seriously in the wake of recent policy decisions and initiatives the government has taken.
'I can see that there is enthusiasm, there is express desire to engage more with India and invest in India, by believing in the commitment in India and in economic reforms and liberalisation and also to create a regime that is friendly to investors,' the Commerce and Industry Minister said.
'The message has gone loud and clear and those investing in India are aware of what our policies are,' he said. Asked whether there is a sense of foreign investors not being very confident about investing in India after the reform process looked halted earlier amid regulatory issues and matters like corruption and if these issues were flagged in the meeting, Sharma asked: 'But, when did we stop, that is my question?' 'Regulatory regimes are there in any mature democracy or economy and when we had the collapse of regulatory regimes we saw what happened in the US and Europe. I have very firm views in this regard, because there were no firm regulatory regimes for their banking and insurance systems and that led to creation of toxic financial assets which led to the collapse of not their own economies and institutions, but also had huge adverse impact on the global economy.
'With regard to the issue of corruption, we always say that we will never tolerate corruption. But to single out one country or a group of countries for corruption is unfair.'We have seen corruption scandals in many other countries, but this becoming a cliche with respect to developing economies and emerging economies is not acceptable. We are a rule-based and rule-governed democracy and nobody should question our commitment to a institutional mechanism to address these issues. I am not seeking certificates from individual opinion makers who do not have adequate comprehension of from where we come from,' he added.
Among others, the meeting was attended by top executives of Telenor, Merck, Bristol, Bata, Aetna, Jones Lang LaSallem KPMG. The top executives of Indian companies like Hero, Bharti, Jubilant, Godrej, Genpact and Triveni Engineering were also present. The representatives of companies like KPMG, Telenor, Merck and Bristol said after the meeting that the Minister told them about the recent decisions by the government on reform front and explained to them the growth prospects in India.
ECONOMY NOW GLOBAL BUT POLITICS CONTINUES TO BE NATIONAL: ISRAEL
The world is becoming 'ungovernable' as the economy has become global while governments continue to remain 'national', Israeli President Shimon Peres said.
Peres, who is here at this Swiss Alpine resort town for the World Economic Forum annual meeting, said global corporations are replacing the role of governments and that the world is becoming ungovernable.
'Governments have found themselves unemployed because the economy has become global while governments remain national,' he said on Thursday. 'Forty global companies have more fortune than all the governments in the world,' he said.
The President said global corporations are answering the expectation of individuality which defines the younger generations.
'Young people are not satisfied by the attempt to be equal,' he said adding 'they are satisfied by the attempt to be different'.
Peres also credited global companies with reducing racism. 'You cannot be global and racist,' he said. In a conversation with Klaus Schwab, Founder and Executive Chairman of the World Economic Forum, Peres elaborated on the three themes he believes will define the next generation. Firstly, national governments, because they cannot run economies or companies, will be relegated to simple husbandry (management of resources) of the state.
Secondly, there will be continuing empowerment of global corporations that will handle global investment and innovation and thirdly, deeper understanding of the human mind will help people to make better decisions. Peres said he believes in being an optimist. 'I never lost anything by believing or by hoping. Better to create hope than to suggest hopelessness,' he said adding that 'live as an optimist. I tried it for 90 years and it's not bad.'
After meeting about two dozen CEOs of global companies on the sidelines of World Economic Forum Annual Meeting here on Thursday night, Sharma said these companies are looking at India very seriously in the wake of recent policy decisions and initiatives the government has taken.
'I can see that there is enthusiasm, there is express desire to engage more with India and invest in India, by believing in the commitment in India and in economic reforms and liberalisation and also to create a regime that is friendly to investors,' the Commerce and Industry Minister said.
'The message has gone loud and clear and those investing in India are aware of what our policies are,' he said. Asked whether there is a sense of foreign investors not being very confident about investing in India after the reform process looked halted earlier amid regulatory issues and matters like corruption and if these issues were flagged in the meeting, Sharma asked: 'But, when did we stop, that is my question?' 'Regulatory regimes are there in any mature democracy or economy and when we had the collapse of regulatory regimes we saw what happened in the US and Europe. I have very firm views in this regard, because there were no firm regulatory regimes for their banking and insurance systems and that led to creation of toxic financial assets which led to the collapse of not their own economies and institutions, but also had huge adverse impact on the global economy.
'With regard to the issue of corruption, we always say that we will never tolerate corruption. But to single out one country or a group of countries for corruption is unfair.'We have seen corruption scandals in many other countries, but this becoming a cliche with respect to developing economies and emerging economies is not acceptable. We are a rule-based and rule-governed democracy and nobody should question our commitment to a institutional mechanism to address these issues. I am not seeking certificates from individual opinion makers who do not have adequate comprehension of from where we come from,' he added.
Among others, the meeting was attended by top executives of Telenor, Merck, Bristol, Bata, Aetna, Jones Lang LaSallem KPMG. The top executives of Indian companies like Hero, Bharti, Jubilant, Godrej, Genpact and Triveni Engineering were also present. The representatives of companies like KPMG, Telenor, Merck and Bristol said after the meeting that the Minister told them about the recent decisions by the government on reform front and explained to them the growth prospects in India.
ECONOMY NOW GLOBAL BUT POLITICS CONTINUES TO BE NATIONAL: ISRAEL
The world is becoming 'ungovernable' as the economy has become global while governments continue to remain 'national', Israeli President Shimon Peres said.
Peres, who is here at this Swiss Alpine resort town for the World Economic Forum annual meeting, said global corporations are replacing the role of governments and that the world is becoming ungovernable.
'Governments have found themselves unemployed because the economy has become global while governments remain national,' he said on Thursday. 'Forty global companies have more fortune than all the governments in the world,' he said.
The President said global corporations are answering the expectation of individuality which defines the younger generations.
'Young people are not satisfied by the attempt to be equal,' he said adding 'they are satisfied by the attempt to be different'.
Peres also credited global companies with reducing racism. 'You cannot be global and racist,' he said. In a conversation with Klaus Schwab, Founder and Executive Chairman of the World Economic Forum, Peres elaborated on the three themes he believes will define the next generation. Firstly, national governments, because they cannot run economies or companies, will be relegated to simple husbandry (management of resources) of the state.
Secondly, there will be continuing empowerment of global corporations that will handle global investment and innovation and thirdly, deeper understanding of the human mind will help people to make better decisions. Peres said he believes in being an optimist. 'I never lost anything by believing or by hoping. Better to create hope than to suggest hopelessness,' he said adding that 'live as an optimist. I tried it for 90 years and it's not bad.'
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