India assures UAE investors ‘legacy issues’ will be addressed

Dubai: India’s finance minister Arun Jaitley said he met with investors in Dubai on Monday and planned to meet others in Abu Dhabi on Tuesday as he tries to resolve any “legacy issues” affecting the flow of investments into the country.

Speaking at a press conference at the Address Hotel in Dubai Marina late yesterday, Jaitley said he also intended to meet top officials at the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority and expected the India infrastructure Fund to figure prominently in discussions. India is eyeing a potential $75 billion (Dh275.25 billion) investment commitment by the UAE in infrastructure, a sector that is critical to economic development in the country.

Earlier in the day, at the UAE India Economic Forum, Jaitley said: “I’ll be meeting a large number of investors from the UAE and there are a large number of legacy issues. And it is going to be our effort within the framework of negotiations to try and see that many of them are solved expeditiously so we are able to have a much easier and free flow of investments.”

There have been a number of issues that have adversely affected UAE investment into India over the last few years, include etisalat lossing its mobile licence in India’s 2G scandal in 2011 and a property dispute involving Emaar in 2013.

Historic trip

Jaitley’s visit comes after a historic trip last August by India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi to the UAE, which was followed by the visit to New Delhi by Shaikh Abdullah Bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Foreign Minister, in early September.

“I’m certain that this mutual partnership has to be taken to a new level after our governments met three months ago,” said Jaitley, adding “it’s a relationship that would flourish.”

Responding to a question on whether the Indian government should undertake efforts to “change the perception of intolerance” to reassure investors, Jaitley said “there’s no indication of intolerance at the ground level” in India.

He added that such perceptions constituted a “manufactured debate” to “subvert” the facts. “I see an environment of perfect harmony,” he added.

India has currently come under attack at home and abroad for instances of attacks against minorities amid unprecedented protests by scholars and authors against intolerance.

Talking about the UAE and Dubai, Jaitley praised the emergence of the region as a global hub.

“I’ve been a witness to the build-up of this region almost brick and brick. In many areas, you have been successful in shifting the global hub to this part of the world. You picked up an area which was geographically [among] the most challenging ones and used some of the most entrepreneurial techniques and vision to develop what this great vision really is,” he said.