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Insulate NRI investors from political uncertainty: British labour party leader

British labour party leader Praful Patel has said that India should set up a permanant machinery to protect overseas Indian businessmen from political uncertainty.

"The Union and state governments need to launch public relations drives, aimed at investor-nations and at overseas Indians,'' he said, addressing the inaugural session of the Overseas Indians Conference organised by the Indian Merchants' Chamber (imc) in Bombay.

''Overseas Indians can be wooed not just by their affiliations to states or regions, but also by their involvement in certain sectors, such as port sector and technology transfer,'' said Patel, who is an investment advisor. In the 1980s, he was a member of the government of India's consultative committee on Non Resident Indians' Investments.

Patel stressed the need for a permanant representation at the highest level of government -- ideally in the form of a joint government forum, a Cabinet ministry or a Rajya Sabha (Upper House of India's Parliament) representation. ''Let's get a permanant framework in place to foster our relationship," he said.

He was optimistic about India becoming an economic and political superpower in the next millennium. "People of India will be defined not by geographical boundaries, but by the culture and institutions, which we all will share."

Patel, who is also the chairman of the Indo-British Cultural Exchange, said about 20 million people across the globe were overseas Indians and they had tremendous potential for investing money in their own country.

UNI

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