Organisers
Ministry of Overseas Indian Affairs is a young ministry. Established in May 2004 as the 'Ministry of Non-Residential Indians' Affairs' it was renamed the 'Ministry of Overseas Indian Affairs' (MOIA) in September 2004. Acknowledging the welfare of the overseas Indian mainstream, the mission of the Ministry is to promote, nurture and sustain a mutually beneficial and symbitic relationship between India and its Diaspora. The focus of the Ministry is to establish an institutional framework to benefit from networks with and among Overseas Indians based on three value proposition:
- Through multi-tasking market driven entities spawned by MOIA and with knowledge partners from the private sector.
- States will be stakeholder partner as Overseas Indian supposed initiatives have to be anchored in the States.
- MOIA will stay small, facilitate activity on the ground and drive policy changes.
Partner State
New Delhi, the capital of India and the third largest city in the country, has all the reasons to be the heart of the country. Sprawled in an area of 1,483 sq. kms., the mega metropolis is divided into Old Delhi and New Delhi, gives the feel of the old and the new, with its ancient historical monuments interspersed with soaring skyscrapers, embassies and bustling commercial complexes.
Delhi has witnessed rapid growth and urbanization in the past few years. Being the base for many large companies from Delhi & NCR and by virtue of being connected by 5 National highways, Delhi is a trading centre and exports hub. The city has come to be known for quality products in the fields of garments, electronics, auto components, machine tools, engineering items, surgical instruments, etc.
The USP of Delhi is its Healthcare, Education and Tourism. Delhi has become the nucleus for banking, insurance, commerce, retail, entertainment and Hi-tech industry like IT and Bio-technology.
With a population of 16 million (2003), urbanization of 93%, literacy rate of 82%, Delhi is growing and expanding magnet of attraction for people from all across the country and also a hub for region surrounding it.
The Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) works to create and sustain an environment conducive to the growth of industry in India, partnering industry and government alike through advisory and consultative processes.
CII is a non-government, not-for-profit, industry led and industry managed organisation, playing a proactive role in India's development process. Founded over 112 years ago, it is India's premier business association, with a direct membership of over 7000 organisations from the private as well as public sectors, including SMEs and MNCs, and an indirect membership of over 90,000 companies from around 362 national and regional sectoral associations.
A facilitator, CII catalyses change by working closely with government on policy issues, enhancing efficiency, competitiveness and expanding business opportunities for industry through a range of specialised services and global linkages. It also provides a platform for sectoral consensus building and networking. Major emphasis is laid on projecting a positive image of business, assisting industry to identify and execute corporate citizenship programmes. Partnerships with over 120 NGOs across the country carry forward our initiatives in integrated and inclusive development, which include health, education, livelihood, diversity management, skill development and water, to name a few.
CII's theme of 'Building People, Building India' puts the spotlight on Human Resource Development: making people more efficient, entrepreneurial and innovative, to make India and Indian industry even more competitive, across all sectors of the economy and all sections of society, at all levels - Global, National, Regional, State and Zonal.
With 62 offices in India, 8 overseas in Australia, Austria, China, France, Japan, Singapore, UK, USA and institutional partnerships with 271 counterpart organisations in 100 countries, CII serves as a reference point for Indian industry and the international business community.
The Overseas Indians are a significant economic, social and cultural force in the world today. The number of Overseas Indians is estimated at over twenty five million across 130 countries.
India as a country recognizes the potential of the Overseas Indian community and has initiated a dialogue by organising programmes such as the Pravasi Bharatiya Divas, Know India Programme, Samman Award etc. for the Indian Diaspora.
Creation of the Ministry of Overseas Indian Affairs was also one of the steps taken by the UPA Government to promote the interests of Indian Diaspora. The Ministry under the aegis of the Hon‘ble Minister, Mr Vayalar Ravi has grown tremendously and in span of just three years has been able to create a strong set up benefiting lakhs of Indian’s living at distant corners of the world.
One of the focus areas of the Ministry of overseas Indian Affairs is the promotion of investment by Overseas Indians through innovative investment and policy initiatives. While India is already the highest recipient of remittances from Overseas Indians ($23bn - 2005), the investment has been far short of its potential given the profile of the Indian diaspora....
In achieving the desired level of investment, the effort of the ministry is to establish an institutional framework that can facilitate this process, preferably a trusted, neutral body with state of the art facilities that can provide a host of investment advisory services efficiently on a real time basis.
With this aim, the Ministry of Overseas Indian Affairs (MOIA) has established a non-profit facilitation centre, in partnership with the Confederation of India Industry (CII) under the title Overseas Indian Facilitation Centre (OIFC).
The "Overseas Indian Facilitation Centre" will provide a host of investment and business advisory services to potential overseas Indian investors. It will serve as a "one stop shop" for the Indian Diaspora. The trust will function as a non-profit body with the objective of promoting Overseas Indian Investment in India and facilitating Business-to-Business partnership between Indian Business and Overseas Indians.
Objectives of Overseas Indian Facilitation Centre:
- Promote overseas Indian investment into India and facilitate business partnership, by giving authentic and real time information.
- Establish and maintain a Diaspora Knowledge Network by creating a database of Overseas Indians, who would act as knowledge diaspora and whose knowledge resources could be utilized by using ICT platform.
- Function as a clearinghouse for all investment related information. This would be done by processing information on a real time basis through the ICT platform.
- Assist States in India to project investment opportunities to overseas Indians in the infrastructure and social sectors. The objectives of the OIFC will be to bring the Indian States, Indian Business and potential Overseas Investors on the same platform and to facilitate the investors to identify the investment opportunities.
- Provide a host of advisory services to PIO and NRIs. These could include matters such as consular questions, stay in India, investment and financial issues etc.
The Centre would also be providing various hand holding services to interested Overseas Indians who want to invest in India. These services will be provided to Overseas Indians in the areas of FDI, Taxation matters, Real estate, Financial market etc.