Sentiments to Convert into Investments Soon: Jaitley

Davos: India is back in the reckoning at the global centre-stage and the huge build-up in positive sentiments among investors should soon start converting into real investment flows on the ground, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley has said.

With a packed agenda of meetings with investors and the government representatives from various countries here at WEF annual meeting, Jaitley said that many of these investors were looking at India either to invest or to expand their presence.

When asked how much credit goes to the new government for India coming back into reckoning at Davos, Jaitley said, "I am quite happy about this fact. We all are enthused about this fact that India seems to be coming back to the centre-stage.

"Several years ago this was the trend and thereafter we had suddenly fallen off the radar. This year I think a series of things have happened."

"Investors are viewing India as a country where there is, after 30 years, a government which has an absolute majority, a government which is led by a Prime Minister who is decisive. They see it as a government which is reform oriented and therefore its a right place to invest in," Jaitley told reporters last night after a series of bilateral meetings here on the sidelines of WEF.

"This sentiment is additionally aided by several global factors. The US economy has revived and it is doing very well. But there are several other economies in the world which compete with India for attracting the investment and they are facing their own challenges.

"Therefore there is investment available in the world. (Domestic) investment in India is still a costly investment and therefore for investment in infrastructure, manufacturing and Make in India programmes, we need the investments from all over the world.

"So I am glad that all these factors have helped revive a huge amount of interest in India," he added.

Jaitley said he is meeting the existing investors and potential investors, those who are looking at India, those who are looking to expand, while Power Minister Piyush Goyal has been meeting several people concerned with the power sector.

"Two of very progressive chief ministers, Chandra Babu Naidu and Devendra Fadnavis are here. Naidu had a series of engagements and Fadnavis had a packed agenda. So I think India is back in reckoning and hopefully we are able to move expeditiously on track that we are moving so that this sentiment converts itself into investments and converts itself into resource for the economy," he added.