ing an attractive environment for foreign investment. This is true in terms of refurbishing infrastructure and opening up access to information through telecommunications technologies. As reported in the Economist, ôThe government has identified the right priorities, from the æright to informationÆ act passed by parliaments lower house in May, 2005, to investing in primary education and rural infrastructure,ö (One, 2005, p. 43) Even so, the government faces challenges from a political and economic environment that demands rapid decision-making in order to develop strategies that will make this emerging market more attractive to investors.
The Indian government is intent on creating policies that make its markets more appealing for foreign investors. According to Maksoud (2005, p. 28), ôMore and more operators are considering investing in India, and the Indian government is working hard to make doing business in India attractive by opening the door wide to foreign investors.ö For example, the Ministry of Industry has lengthened the list of industries that are eligible for automatic approval of foreign investments and, for many companies, has also increased the degree of foreign ownership possible from 51 percent to 74 percent, (India, 2005). Further, the Government has lowered the approval period for foreign investors to 90 days, while permitting companies with a solid track record to raise funds in international markets through Global Depository Receipts and American Depository Receipts.
In the past, government foreign policy erected barriers that discriminated against foreign companies. In the past few years, however, man
...