Ajay Piramal is sitting on a mountain of cash. Yet the billionaire Indian tycoon, working in one of the world’s fastest growing economies, is struggling to decide what to do with the money.
The problem is not opportunity, he said. It is India. “Every large investment, there was no transparency,” Piramal said.
His dilemma is a worrying sign for India. With the country mired in corruption, bureaucratic red tape and unclear and changing government policies, many of the men who made their billions here are saying maybe it is time to quit India. It has got to be easier to do business elsewhere.
Photo: Reuters
照片:路透
India, still a beacon of relatively fast growth despite a troubled world economy, should be a magnet for capital. Instead, since the beginning of 2010, the amount that Indians have invested in businesses overseas has exceeded the amount foreigners are investing in India, according to central bank figures.
“India was going more towards capitalism than socialism,” Piramal said. “I think we’re going back. Capitalism went to too much excess. Corruption levels went to the extreme.”
(AP)
阿傑‧皮拉瑪坐擁金山。然而這位印度的億萬富翁,在全球經濟成長最快速的國家,卻無法決定如何處理這些錢。
他說,問題不是沒有機會,問題在於印度。「只要是大投資案,就沒有透明度可言。」皮拉瑪說。
皮拉瑪的兩難對印度來說,是個令人憂心的跡象。印度深陷貪污,官僚繁文縟節,政策方向不明且朝令夕改;許多在印度投資獲利的人都表示,或許該離開印度了,到別的地方做生意應該比較簡單。
印度在全球經濟混沌時,仍是成長相對快速的一盞明燈,應是吸引資金的磁鐵。然而,根據中央銀行的數據,從二○一○年初開始,印度人的海外投資已超過外資在印度的投資。
「印度較偏向於資本主義,而非社會主義。」皮拉瑪說:「我認為我們正在倒退。資本主義已經太過頭。貪污的程度已經到了極致。」
(美聯社/翻譯:陳維真)
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