‘‘The big data is being weaponized and it can be used for profiling and for the number of purposes we can’t think about. This would pose a national security threat to us unless we do something about it. A draft of the act very similar to US’s FIRRM act (Foreign Investment Risk Review Modernization Act) is prepared and the bill was introduced in the parliament by me as a private member bill.’’ , Said Dr. Narendra Jadhav, renowned Economist and MP (Rajyasabha).
In an event organized by Pune International Centre (PIC) today at MCCIA, Senapati Bapat Road, a policy paper authored by Umesh Kudalkar named as ‘List in India- Towards FDI 2.0’ was published at the hands of Narendra Jadhav. Dr. Vijay Kelkar, renowned Economist and Vice President PIC, Prashant Girbane, Honorary Director, PIC were present among the dignitaries.
US has passed a law called Foreign Investment Risk Review Modernization Act (FIRRM) that gives authority to US government to discriminate between foreign investment. Dr. Jadhav sighted an example that in the recent past the permission was denied to Alibaba and Financial to buy the company MoneyGram stating that a lot of economic and financial data would become available to Chinese authorities. ‘‘MNCs occupy our day to day life and we do not realise that they are making surreptitious aggression into India’s financial sector. That is leading us to a very serious national security threat. A draft of the act very similar to the US FIRRM act is prepared and the bill was introduced in the parliament by me as a private member bill. I have taken it up with the highest authorities in our country and the issue is being debated and discussed,’’ He said.
Kudalkar has made a point in this policy paper that MNCs are taking profits to their home countries which are often more than their investment. He has suggested two proposals like listing of MNCs Indian subsidiaries by offering tax incentives or enabling buying of parent MNC shares through integration of Indian Stock Exchanges with Global Exchanges.
Jadhav said that the argument that listing will help MNCs gain customer loyalty in the local market and lower the cost of capital is important, but not persuasive enough. On the other hand, providing tax incentives for the listed MNCs and to implicit tax penalties for those who are not listed would certainly be persuasive.
Jadhav said, ‘‘China adopted the methods like banning internet MNCs. Being a democracy, such bans are infeasible for us. But in my view, a policy for stipulating MNCs to transfer technology, share patents and to enter into mandatory 50-50 joint ventures with the Indian partners if they wish to continue to have market access to 130 Cr. customers, is possible. A serious strategic thought would have to be given to this issue before it is too late.’’
