Foreign Investment to be Encouraged to Tide over Current Account Deficit

The Current Account Deficit (CAD) of India continues to be high mainly because of our excessive dependence on oil imports, the high volume of coal imports, our passion for gold, and the slow down in exports. This year, and perhaps next year too, we have to find over USD 75 billion to finance the CAD. This was stated by the Union Finance Minister Shri P. Chidambaram, while presenting the General Budget 2013-14 in Lok Sabha today. Stating that there are only three ways to tide over the problem FDI, FII or External Commercial Borrowings (ECB), Shri Chidambaram said this is why he had been emphasizing that at the present juncture, India does not have the choice between welcoming and spurning foreign investment. We have to encourage foreign investment that is consistent with our economic objectives, he added.