Union commerce minister against FDI in tobacco industry

Union commerce minister Anand Sharma today indicated the government was not in favour of attracting foreign investments in the tobacco industry saying "a responsible country" like India should rather have more investments in fields such as innovation and green technology.
    
"Why should we have Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) in tobacco? There is a ban on smoking in public places. We are a responsible country," Sharma told reporters here.
    
Sharma said he would like to see more FDI in innovation, research and green technologies, which were the technologies of the future.
    
When asked about telecom major Bharti Airtel's efforts to acquire the South Africa-based Zain Telecom, he said, "We welcome Indian corporates to step out and become major multinational corporations. We support any such initiative."
    
To a question on whether export stimulus would be continued in the coming budget, Sharma said finance minister Pranab Mukherjee was "sensitive" to the concerns of the export sector.
    
Sharma, who earlier inaugurated an international sea food conference, said exports of engineering goods, which slowed during the global economic slowdown, were still to pick up.