CNPC, Sinopec, Chinalco, Shanghai Electric and Huawei Technologies are not ordinary Chinese enterprises. They are extended arms of the Chinese Government, often fulfilling strategic objectives beyond the commercial.
This cannot be said about ArcelorMittal, GMR Infrastructure, Bharti Airtel, Jindal Steel or Karuturi Global. They are privately-owned entities having overseas business interests, but hardly discharging any strategic functions on the Indian Government’s behalf.
Nor would their establishing steel plants in Europe or Bolivia, airports in Maldives, or telecom and corporate farming operations in Africa help secure vital raw materials, leave alone create jobs here. The profits from these operations, too, belong to only their private shareholders.
That being so, why should the Indian Government be expected to safeguard global investments made by these groups? There is something called entrepreneurship: While taking decisions, you should fully know the risks accompanying them. That includes political risks — from regime changes, the new rulers not honouring contracts entered with predecessor ‘friendly’ governments or being populist/socialist to the point of threatening expropriation/nationalisation of assets, and so on.
07/12/12 Harish Damodaran/Business Line
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This cannot be said about ArcelorMittal, GMR Infrastructure, Bharti Airtel, Jindal Steel or Karuturi Global. They are privately-owned entities having overseas business interests, but hardly discharging any strategic functions on the Indian Government’s behalf.
Nor would their establishing steel plants in Europe or Bolivia, airports in Maldives, or telecom and corporate farming operations in Africa help secure vital raw materials, leave alone create jobs here. The profits from these operations, too, belong to only their private shareholders.
That being so, why should the Indian Government be expected to safeguard global investments made by these groups? There is something called entrepreneurship: While taking decisions, you should fully know the risks accompanying them. That includes political risks — from regime changes, the new rulers not honouring contracts entered with predecessor ‘friendly’ governments or being populist/socialist to the point of threatening expropriation/nationalisation of assets, and so on.
07/12/12 Harish Damodaran/Business Line
