[MTC Global] Raining Funds

Raining Funds - Message is Loud and Clear.

• Venture capital funds total to Rs 15,600 crore into Indian start-ups this year; surpasses inflow in all of 2014 ; thanks to increasing smartphone adoption and Internet penetration.
• Foreign Policy magazine's Baseline Profitability Index points to India being the top destination for investment in 2015. It goes on to show that investor perception remains good about India.
• The economic diplomacy space here has considerably expanded.
• Sensex has increased from roughly 24,700 points in May 2014 to near the 27,500 points mark at present.
• India's FDI inflows jumped 22 percent to reach $34 billion in 2014.
  
• India also regained the top slot in remittances with overseas Indians sending back a staggering $70 billion in 2014, according to World Bank estimates. 

What has worked well?

• India's increasing foreign engagement where it remains a beneficiary of official bilateral aid
• The reform process has to be pursued more aggressively and quickly.

What further is expected?

• India needs to improve its competitiveness by making it easier to start, operate and wind down a business operation in India. 
• Also to compete infrastructure, tax rates and skills need to be bettered and much will be dependent on India's execution capability. 

Authors...

Sankalp Sharma, Senior Researcher at the Institute for Competitiveness, India.

Amit Kapoor is Chair, Institute for Competitiveness & Editor of Thinkers.