Budget Fails to Cheer Indian Expats

Khaleej Times

By Jeejo Augustine

7 July 2009

DUBAI - From cautious optimism to outright anger, and overflowing enthusiasm to profound pessimism, the cream of Indian corporate leaders in the UAE voiced their reactions to the budget for fiscal 2009-10 that Indian Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee presented to that country’s Parliament on Monday.

This year’s budget spelled out the growing ambitions of a nation on the move, but unfortunately, as a number of businessmen pointed out, it failed — like so many budgets before it — to address the grievances of non-resident Indians. Indeed, some NRIs believe that the budget has become an annual ritual to remind them of New Delhi’s neglect and marginalisation of the expatriate Indian community.

Many NRIs also see the budget as a mere presentation of policy statements that seldom become reality.

“The budget is an illusive exercise. Proposals in the budget are irrelevant because there is a vast gap between their announcement and implementation,” said UAE-based businessman Bharatbai Shah.

And while they hailed the budget as populist and balanced, business professionals in the UAE mooted a simple question: How relevant is the budget for most NRIs?

Although non-resident Indians contribute a big chunk of India’s foreign exchange reserves, they feel increasingly left out when the nation maps its strategy for its onward march to prosperity. NRIs have for years sought to participate in India’s national development by investing in projects there but have done without any response from the government.

“The budget once again failed to address any of the long term issues of the Gulf-based NRIs, like rehabilitation of Gulf returnees or specific schemes to attract their investment into India,“ said Yusuffali MA, Managing Director of EMKE Group and Board Member of the Abu Dhabi Chamber of Commerce & Industry. “I hope that the government will work out some special package in this regard soon.”

Paras Shahdadpuri, Chairman of the Nikai Group of Companies and President of the Indian Business & Professional Council, shared this idea. “Unfortunately the NRI has not been directly roped in in the process of economic growth of India. There was nothing mentioned of this huge constituency of about 26 million,” he said.

NRIs had asked for the creation of a special fund — a compulsory systematic investment plan similar to a provident fund — to rehabilitate ill-fated expatriates who return to India “without a penny in hand,” added KV Shamsudheen, Chairman of Pravasi Bandhu Welfare Trust and Director of Barjeel Geojit Securities LLC.

“But NRIs who play a significant role by remitting foreign currency to boost foreign currency reserves of the country to the tune of $262 billion are totally neglected in the budget,” he said.

Indian Consul General Venu Rajamony rallied to the government’s defense.

“The policy outline opens the door for heightened economic interaction between the UAE and India,” Rajamony said. “If a trillion dollar economy ($1.2 trillion) can achieve a 9 per cent growth, we are going to see huge opportunities for companies in the UAE and in this region.”