Foreign firms in India

在印度的外国公司

Multinationals love India more than it loves them

跨国公司对印度的爱超过了印度对他们的爱

By looking inward, Narendra Modi is missing a huge opportunity

通过内省，纳伦德拉•莫迪(Narendra Modi)正在错失一个巨大的机会

Jul 4th 2020 |

IF YOU LOOK at the headline figures, foreign companies still appear to be piling into India even as its economy reels from the pandemic. Since the country went into lockdown in March some $20bn of cross-border deals have been announced, with the likes of Facebook and KKR, a private-equity giant, sticking cash into digital firms, solar parks and more. Optimists argue that India could soon become a place to build factories, as firms seek to diversify their supply chains away from China.

如果你看一下总体数据，就会发现外国公司似乎仍在涌入印度，尽管该国经济正因疫情而受到重创。自3月份该国进入封锁状态以来，该国已经宣布了约200亿美元的跨境交易，Facebook和私募股权巨头KKR将资金投入数字公司、太阳能电站等领域。乐观主义者认为，印度很快就会成为一个建厂的地方，因为企业会寻求将其供应链从中国转移到其他国家。

词汇

Reel from/由于…而蹒跚；受…的不好影响

private-equity /私募股权

solar park/太阳能发电园区

 

Yet look closely, and a different picture emerges. Foreign firms are often on the wrong end of regulatory changes. Investors increasingly prefer to take minority stakes alongside local tycoons, rather than set out on their own. And Narendra Modi, the prime minister, is veering towards a policy of capricious self-reliance. This week India banned 59 Chinese-made apps, including TikTok. Unless things change, India and the firms that invest there will not reach their potential.

但仔细看看，就会发现另一幅图景。在监管改革中，外国公司往往走错了路。投资者越来越倾向于与当地大亨一起持有少数股权，而不是自己创业。印度总理纳伦德拉•莫迪(Narendra Modi)正在转向一种反复无常、自力更生的政策。本周，印度禁止了59款中国制造的应用程序，包括TikTok。除非情况有所改变，否则印度和在那里投资的公司将无法发挥其潜力。

词汇

Minority/少数民族；少数派

Tycoon/企业界大亨，巨头

Capricious/反复无常的；任性的

 

India was largely closed to foreign firms between independence in 1947 and liberalisation in 1991—it even kicked out Coca-Cola. Since then it has opened up, tentatively at first, and after 2000 more confidently. Cumulatively, multinational firms have invested over $500bn and some have won control of critically important assets. Vodafone took a majority stake in a big mobile network in 2007. The biggest carmaker is run by Suzuki, a Japanese firm. When Mr Modi was elected in 2014, he pledged to make India even more hospitable and to attract more factories. On paper the Sino-American trade war should make it easier to turn India into a global production hub.

在1947年独立到1991年自由化之间，印度基本上对外国公司关闭，甚至把可口可乐(Coca-Cola)踢出了印度。从那时起，它开始试探性地开放，2000年后更加自信。跨国公司累计投资超过5000亿美元，其中一些公司还获得了至关重要资产的控制权。沃达丰在2007年收购了一家大型移动网络的多数股权。最大的汽车制造商是日本的铃木公司。2014年莫迪当选时，他承诺要让印度变得更加友好，并吸引更多工厂。从理论上讲，中美trade war将使印度更容易成为全球生产中心。

词汇

Tentatively/暂时地；试验性地

Cumulatively/ 累积地；渐增地

 

How has Mr Modi done? Officials boast that India has moved swiftly up the “ease of doing business” rankings, from 142nd place in 2014 to 63rd place last year. But the reality is less impressive. India’s share of global foreign direct investment (FDI) flows has nudged up only slightly, from 2.5% in 2014 to 3.3% last year. Meanwhile, some troubling problems fester.

莫迪先生做得怎么样?官员们夸耀说，印度在“营商环境便捷指数”(ease of business)排行榜上的排名迅速上升，从2014年的第142位升至去年的第63位。但现实却没那么令人印象深刻。印度在全球外国直接投资(FDI)中的份额仅略有上升，从2014年的2.5%上升到去年的3.3%。与此同时，一些令人不安的问题也在恶化。

词汇

nudge up/向上微调

 fester/溃烂；化脓

Foreign firms don’t always get fair treatment. True, some that have been active in India for many decades, such as Unilever, are treated like locals. But more recent arrivals can get beaten up. Vodafone poured over $20bn into India but found itself subject to a big retroactive tax claim, unfavourable regulation and, most recently, spectrum levies (some local firms got clobbered, too). Amazon and Walmart, which together have also invested over $20bn, faced a sharp change in the e-commerce rules in 2019 that made it harder for them to own or control inventory.

外国公司并不总是得到公平的待遇。的确，一些在印度活跃了几十年的公司，比如联合利华，被当作本地人对待。但更多的新来者可能会遭到殴打。沃达丰向印度投入了超过200亿美元，但却发现自己面临着一项重大的追溯性税收要求、不利的监管，以及最近的频谱税(一些当地公司也遭到重创)。亚马逊(Amazon)和沃尔玛(Walmart)投资总额也超过200亿美元，它们在2019年面临着电子商务规则的急剧变化，这加大了它们拥有或控制库存的难度。

词汇

Retroactive/追溯的；有追溯效力的；反动的

Spectrum/光谱；频谱；范围

Levie------levy/征收；征税

Clobber/击倒；痛打

Inventory/  存货，存货清单

  

Because the playing field is not level, foreign firms seem to be shifting from owning their own subsidiaries to taking passive stakes in well-connected local firms instead. Ford has folded its business into a joint-venture. Aéroports de Paris has taken a non-controlling stake in an infrastructure firm. A who’s who of world business has bought small stakes in Jio, a mobile-phone and e-commerce firm run by Mukesh Ambani, India’s richest man, which competes with Amazon, Walmart and Vodafone. Of all the $57bn of cross-border deals announced in the past 12 months, 66% involved passive stakes and half involved partnerships with a tiny number of Indian tycoons. The economy is becoming dominated by a few local winners. According to Marcellus, an investment firm, 70% of corporate profits are made by the top 20 firms, only one of them foreign, up from 14% 30 years ago.

由于竞争环境并不公平，外国公司似乎正从拥有自己的子公司转向被动地入股有良好关系的本土公司。福特已将其业务并入一家合资企业。巴黎机场已经获得了一家基础设施公司的非控股权。一些世界商业领军人物购买了Jio的少量股份，Jio是印度首富穆克什•安巴尼经营的一家移动电话和电子商务公司，与亚马逊、沃尔玛和沃达丰竞争。在过去12个月里宣布的570亿美元的跨境交易中，66%是被动持股，一半是与少量印度大亨的合作。经济正由少数本地赢家主导。根据投资公司Marcellus的数据，70%的企业利润是由排名前20的公司创造的，其中只有一家是外国公司，而30年前这一比例为14%。

词汇

Subsidiary/子公司；下属公司

who’s who /韦氏字典解释

1‘The leader of a group

2’a listing or grouping of notable person or things

Tycoon/企业界大亨，巨头

 

With the economy forecast to shrink by 4.5% this year and firms prowling for alternatives to China, you may think that Mr Modi would open the door. But his policies have turned inward, mirroring the lurch to protectionism in the West. On May 12th he made a speech which said that India should take part in global supply chains but also mentioned “self-reliance” 17 times. As military tensions with China rise , a new crackdown has begun. As well as banning the Chinese apps, the government is prodding e-commerce firms to have “country of origin” labelling on goods they sell. Foreign firms bring cash, know-how and competition. Once the pandemic passes, India must show that it is still open for business.

预计今年印度经济将萎缩4.5%，企业正在寻找中国的替代品，你可能认为莫迪会打开大门。但他的政策已转向内部，反映出向西方国家保护主义倾斜。5月12日，他在演讲中说印度应该参与全球供应链，但也17次提到“自力更生”。随着与【】紧张关系的加剧，新一轮的镇压已经开始。除了禁止中国应用外，政府还敦促电子商务公司在其销售的商品上贴上“原产国”标签。外国公司带来了现金、技术和竞争。一旦疫情过去，印度必须证明自己仍对企业开放。

词汇

Prowl/徘徊；巡游

Lurch/突然倾斜