NEW DELHI, OCT 15: Murasoli Maran, who is in charge of both Commerce and Industry ministries, has assured full protection to the domestic industry on the issue of setting up of 100-per cent subsidiaries by multinational companies in the areas where they already have an existing joint venture with an Indian company.Addressing newspersons, a day after he formally took over office, Maran said that the existing policy of getting a no-objection certificate (NOC) from the Indian partner before setting up a 100-per cent subsidiary by the overseas company would continue or else the domestic industry will perish. He said that there would be no change in the existing policy as the Government was committed to protect the interests of Indian companies as well as stakeholders. He said that his prime agenda would also be to give exports a big push and expand the export basket for which the competitiveness of the domestic industry would have to be increased.Asked whether this would mean that he would review the caseof Pfizer which has been granted approval by the Government to set up a 100-per cent subsidiary in spite of having an Indian venture, Maran said that Pfizer's case was different. He said that it did not have a JV in India but only a venture where it had 49 per cent shares and balance was held by investors. When pointed out whether protecting the interests of Indian companies was upper in his mind rather than protecting the interests of the shareholders, Maran said that this was not the case. He said that it was only a day since he had taken over and was not aware of the specifics of the case and would make a final comment only after knowing about them.On the merger of the Commerce and the Industry ministries, Maran said that this fulfilled a long felt need since there were synergies between the two. The other reason for the merger was that now the emphasis will be on export-led growth.Maran said that achieving a quantum jump in exports will be a great priority for him. ``My effort will be to ensureaccelerated export growth in the coming years and to ensure an enlarged share for India in the global market.'' For the current fiscal, the Government had set a modest target of 10-12 per cent of exports, he said.On the forthcoming Seattle meeting, he said that the ministry was fully prepared for it and various committees were holding discussions on it. He said that tomorrow the Prime Minister's Office would be convening a meeting on the issue. ``We will finalise our stand after wide consultations. I am in favour of developing national consensus, that will be my endeavour. I can't say anything more on individual aspects or issues involved now,'' he said.He said that software and electronics sectors deserved full help and E-commerce was important.
