Bengaluru: “I have attended Pravasi Bharatiya Divas earlier, but this time it was not beneficial to NRIs at all. It was just a political gimmick. There were no stalls for NRIs to highlight their entrepreneurial ideas to be implemented in India. We could not engage with any MEA officials. The sessions just promoted the Indian government," said Mr Denis Menezes, an entrepreneur from Singapore.
Apart from not being able to engage with officials, innovators also felt that there was no proper facility for investors to meet them.
Mr Menezes came to PBD with a product to convert low-density plastic from plastic bags found in garbage dumps to make pellets, road kerbs, road plates and more. This has commercial benefits with a return of 30 percent on investment, but NRI innovators had to contend with other issues, he said.
“We were unable to express our issues. The government must provide a subsidy for NRI entrepreneurs. There should be a tax holiday of three years if they want to set up a plant or a factory here,” he said.
Mr Sunny Kulathakal, Global Ambassador, Global Organisation of People of Indian Origin, said, “Many Indians who come abroad through fake agents end up losing all their money and have no jobs. We wanted to highlight the issue and suggest a solution by having some of the GOPIO members as speakers on the panel, but they did not allow that."
Providing skill development to jobless migrant workers so that they can go back to India instead of working as drivers or waiters abroad was the solution Mr Sunny wanted to discuss with the external affairs ministry. He felt that the speakers in sessions were not up to the mark.
Ms Anita, another NRI businessperson, said, “I tried to book an appointment with officials through the PBD website ten days ago. I wanted to meet them and discuss entrepreneurial ideas that we can implement in India. The portal just did not work. Apparently, the website crashed. What kind of an excuse is that?”
