Modi’s foreign policy will bring out 'red carpet' for investors

Since Narendra Modi swept to power on the development plank rather than on a saffron agenda, it is but natural that after he takes over as the Indian Prime Minister his foreign policy too would be development-oriented. In other words, his immediate focus would be on economic diplomacy while every other form of diplomacy will take a back seat. For the first six months or so, Modi will hardly have time to think of core-foreign policy issues other than focusing on beefing up the economy, creation of jobs, and building up an investor-friendly climate. While strategic issues will have to wait for some time, Modi’s most immediate foreign policy-related task would be to deliver on his favourite one-liner quote: “No red tape; only red carpet” for all investors, both domestic and foreign. A technocrat intimately, who is involved in an ambitious Government of India’s mission of attracting investments worth $100 billion by 2020 in the field of electronics, told this columnist that the investor sentiment was so high that Modi as Prime Minister would meet this target by next year. Moreover, the technocrat was confident that Modi would make this project far more ambitious and set a new target of $500 billion by 2020. This is only the electronics sector in which telecom is one of the important sub-sectors. A far bigger story is set to unfold in the infrastructure sector. Modi’s target would be attracting investments in this crucial area to the tune of a whopping one trillion dollars by 2020. [caption id=“attachment_1532463” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] Narendra Modi and Sushma Swaraj at the BJP headquarter in Delhi. AP[/caption] The technocrat informed that Prime Minister Manmohan Singh had set a target in 2012 of garnering investments worth $ 100 billion within five years, but thus far only $ 13 billion has been realised. Building a strong and vibrant infrastructure that would propel the GDP growth by focusing on creating a vast network of ports, airports, highways, expressways, high speed railways, power plants and new cities would be the top most priority of Modi, both in the immediate and long term future. Achieving all, this in the near future would be a humongous task and a challenge. While Modi may contemplate a separate ministry dedicated to beefing up the infrastructure sector and keeping it directly under the monitoring of the PMO, it would require a hands-on approach in economic diplomacy. In this scenario, the portfolio of External Affairs Ministry acquires all the more significance. The new External Affairs Minister will be expected to fast track India’s economic diplomacy and put it on the front burner. Sushma Swaraj seems to be an apt person to discharge the responsibility of External Affairs Minister, provided Modi keeps his faith in her despite certain political irritants. Ravi Shankar Prasad, who has a better rapport with Modi than Sushma Swaraj, has already pitched himself for the post of EAM. Whoever is India’s new EAM, one can expect a paradigm shift in the role and responsibility of this vital ministry which is one of the four CCS (Cabinet Committee on Security) ministries, Home, Defence and Finance being the other three. The new EAM would have to travel abroad more frequently. Besides, one can expect a sharp hike in incoming visits by foreign dignitaries and the new foreign minister will have to personally interact with these dignitaries and make things easier for Modi. He or she would also have to interact more closely with the Industry and Commerce minister. Such is the importance of the portfolios of external affairs and industry and commerce that Modi may well be tempted to amalgamate all three or devise a mechanism where these three ministries mandatorily work more cohesively than ever before. Modi will inevitably be putting a laser beam focus on two countries for turning around the Indian infrastructure: Japan and Russia. With both these countries India enjoys extremely close political ties, free of any contentious issues whatsoever. Japan is already an integral part of India’s growth story and closely involved in massive infrastructure projects, including the $90 billion Delhi-Mumbai Industrial Corridor (DMIC). Modi can use his personal equation with the Japanese leadership to nudge them to do much more than the Japanese have been doing. The Japanese would be all too willing. During the decade-long UPA tenure, India has tried its best to hardsell the DMIC project and given several presentations to many countries, including France, Germany and Russia, urging them to invest in the project. Modi can also be expected to pitch in directly with the Russian leadership and persuade Moscow to invest in DMIC. The Indians had given a presentation to the Russian leadership in Moscow as recently as earlier this year on the DMIC project. Russia has not yet taken any decision on the Indian request thus far. A good part of DMIC directly benefits Gujarat, Maharashtra and Uttar Pradesh. Modi can also look at China for huge investments. The Chinese are quite eager to pump in billions of dollars in the Indian infrastructure sector, but Indian security agencies have their own red lines in the Chinese proposals. The UPA government chose not to take this political decision – whether to accept Chinese investments in infrastructure sector or not. Perhaps Modi’s attitude would be more hands-on. Perhaps he can devise ways in consultation with the security and intelligence agencies of having Chinese investments without compromising Indian security and strategic interests. Thus, the external affairs ministry would be critical for Modi in changing the face of India in double quick time. At the same time, I do not foresee Modi interfering in the functioning of the MEA and reshuffling officials because there is no need for that in the near-term future. The writer is a New Delhi-based columnist and strategic analyst who tweets @Kishkindha.