German firm from chemical sector to invest $1.5 bn in India: Piyush Goyal

Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal on Saturday said a German company from the chemical sector has decided to invest $1.5 billion in India, and a state has identified land for the project.

Though the minister did not disclose the name of the company or the state, he said that the company's head is expected to meet the state's chief minister on Sunday.

The company will "have the allotment of land in his hand, and we will have a billion-and-a-half dollars of foreign direct investment coming into the country over the next 12 months", Goyal said at a session of the Union Internationale des Avocats (UIA) here.

The company is looking for a parcel of land, which is about 250 acres near a port.

Germany is the ninth largest investor in India. The country has received about $15 billion foreign direct investment (FDI) during April 2000 and December 2024.

He said that more and more companies are looking at coming to India to explore business opportunities.

He added that the government has taken a series of measures to improve the business environment of the country by reducing compliance burden and decriminalising minor offences.

These measures, he said, are generating a new confidence among investors and the government is ready to help them if any law is creating unnecessary hindrance or if they are facing unfair competition due to predatory pricing.

Talking on the arbitration, he said it is a mechanism that can cut down a lot of judicial delays, if both parties are sincere in their acceptance of arbitration results.

"Of course, sometimes there are concerns about the quality of arbitration, so often a matter of deep concern for us in government for two reasons, whether the government was able to present its case smart enough and well enough before the arbitrators and second, whether the arbitration truly carried justice or was over influenced by the influence of large corporates or larger international thinking," he said.

He asserted that there is a need to make arbitration more robust so that it can generate confidence in all the stakeholders.

There is also a need to "look at making arbitration and mediation much more popular in our working", he said, adding, "I do believe that if India continues to grow the way it is, and we continue to power on our manufacturing ecosystem, the way we are hoping to, we will obviously have disputes, we will obviously have areas of disagreement, and if we can keep the courts unclogged, our desire to become a global manufacturing hub will get a big boost".