Singapore and Hong Kong are significant gateways to global capital for India. Therefore it was apt, if not overdue, for foreign minister Arun Jaitley to visit these jurisdictions to give investor communities a first-hand feel of India's policies and direction. Joining his delegation in Singapore, I came away with lots of positive feedback.Singapore was literally in the first week of its newly elected Government (with a strong majority). Therefore the interaction of our FM with their leadership should obviously result in stability in our long-term strategic engagement. As a country, Singapore has many strengths that are aligned with our roadmap - a highly developed financial sector, infrastructure, a clean environment, skills, specialized manufacturing. Almost each area of strength can create mutual space for economic engagement and investment flow into India.During an open interaction with the financial and business community, FM Jaitley was remarkably frank about the direction of future taxation policy (and potential solutions to pending issues). Even though the “Make in India” mission may not be as widely relevant to Singapore companies, his messages on the same were loud and clear, including the determination of the Government to drastically improve the ease of doing business and to introduce the GST which will also allow a unified pan-India market to be created.A leading fund house arranged a closeddoor meeting with multiple investment funds for the FM and accompanying officials, where many positive policy initiatives and their implementation were again detailed. Health of the Banking sector was an oftenrepeated query and it was interesting to note comprehensive responses on our strategy.Later in the day FM Jaitley had a remarkably frank session with the renowned presenter Nik Gowing before a large dinner audience, as a part of the institutionalized “Singapore Summit”. A key take-away was that a sound policy being followed by India is to concentrate on real economy, rather than being just impacted by what external factors do to the market.From the FICCI platform we have voiced continuously that it is important to actively “welcome” foreign investment (indeed - investment from both foreign AND domestic sources) rather than just the act of “permitting” them. I believe the message was loud and clear from the FM that India is more than willing to go the extra mile to welcome investments from all quarters. To that end, the multiple references to transparency in governmental interactions and decision making, discouragement of crony capitalism in all forms, a determination to bring about greater hygiene in the way money is earned and spent by citizens, were all welcomed by the audiences. Our Asian neighbours keep a close eye on regional geo-politics and again the audience sensed positivity in India's approach.All things considered, such interactions (many have taken place this year in UK, USA, Germany and other countries) add considerable value and momentum to our capital-seeking efforts and we hope to see this trend carry over into the next two-three critical years also.

Aged 57 years, Mr. Sidharth K. Birla is a Company Director and Entrepreneur, Chairman of Xpro India Limited and Digjam Limited. He holds an MBA Degree from IMD, Switzerland and is an Alumnus of the Harvard Business School. He is Immediate Past President of FICCI, India's largest apex business chamber.