Commenting on reports that the Government of India will allowqualified foreign investors to directly invest in Indian equitymarkets, Stuart Fraser, Policy Chairman at the City of LondonCorporation, said:"Following a difficult year for Indian equity markets, it isvery positive to see the Indian Government responding with measuresto make direct investment by foreign pension funds, investors andtrusts possible. India has the potential to be a very attractiveinvestment destination, and Foreign Institutional Investors arealready a major source of capital in the equity and corporate debtmarkets. These new measures to simplify the processes for directinvestment are a welcome acknowledgement of the value which foreigninvestors bring to India.

"This liberalisation of rules for equity investments sees 2012off to a very positive start, one that I hope to see develop overthe year " crucially - with further progress on FDI policy andbanking reform. This process of reform recognises that India is agrowing part of the global economy, and benefits from theinvestment made by companies from London " and across theglobe. Apart from creating additional economic activity andgenerating employment, foreign investment also facilitates the flowof technology into India and helps industries to become morecompetitive.

"I hope too that the new investment rules will encouragefinancial institutions to help their customers invest directly intoIndia, increasing the funding that India is seeking forinfrastructure development and to fund India"s growingbusinesses."