3 min readNew DelhiApr 5, 2022 03:18 AM IST
First published on: Apr 4, 2022 at 02:13 PM IST
Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) staying in the country and creating jobs and prospects, and not the outflow of Foreign Institute Investors (FIIs) and Foreign Portfolio Investors (FPIs), should be assessed to measure robustness of the Indian economy, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said on Monday.
“It is that (FDI) which indicates that money coming in (is) staying in this country, thereby creating jobs and prospects for us, not by FPIs and FIIs,” Sitharaman said during during the Question Hour in Lok Sabha.
The FIIs and FPIs “may come and go” but Indian retail investors have proven that they are ready for any shock that may come in, given the “shock-absorbing capacity the Indian retailer has brought into the Indian market”.
Sitharaman said one needs to look at the FDI inflow “with fairness and objectivity”, and added, “India is the highest receiver of FDI since before Covid-19; it (the inflow) continued during Covid significantly, and subsequently also.”
Sitharaman was responding to a question raised by Congress MP Shashi Tharoor, who expressed concern over the steady withdrawal of overseas investors from the Indian market. Tharoor said overseas investors have pulled out a net Rs 1.14 lakh crore from the Indian market so far this year and foreign portfolio investors have taken back equities worth Rs 48,268 crore. “This is the sixth straight month that FII investors have withdrawn from the Indian market, and the trend might be exacerbated by the US interest rate hikes and the commodity price hike, particularly of crude oil,” he said, calling it a “worrying trend”.
The Question Hour also saw protests by Opposition members. Congress MPs protested over BJP member from Delhi, Parvesh Sahib Singh, being allowed to ask a lengthy question in which he alleged that the Arvind Kejriwal government is doing nothing but offering lip service to solve the Capital’s pollution problem. Singh criticised the AAP government for what he called is its lackadaisical attitude towards solving Delhi’s pollution problem and sought a penalty on the Delhi government on this.
As Singh took a few minutes in asking the question, Congress leader of the House, Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury, and his party colleague Gaurav Gogoi protested, saying that the Chair gave him more time than usual to ask a supplementary question.
In a sharp reaction, Union Environment Minister Bhupender Yadav, who asked why Chowdhury was getting agitated since the BJP member was asking about the Delhi government, as he is an MP from Delhi.
Yadav also dismissed Gogoi’s contention that the Health Ministry was not ready to link pollution with health issues in the country. Gogoi wanted a probe to see whether there is a link.
Speaker Om Birla remained silent amid all this war of words. When the House met, DMK MPs protested demanding withdrawal of Tamil Nadu Governor R N Ravi, alleging that he is stalling Bills passed by the Assembly. TRS members, meanwhile, protested against Union minister Piyush Goyal for having purportedly “misled” the House on paddy procurement. The TRS MPs said they will move a privilege motion against Goyal.
Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman speaks in the Lok Sabha. (PTI) 
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