Foreign firms in India

在印度的外國(guó)公司

Multinationals love India more than it loves them

跨國(guó)公司對(duì)印度的愛(ài)超過(guò)了印度對(duì)他們的愛(ài)

By looking inward, Narendra Modi is missing a huge opportunity

通過(guò)內(nèi)省，納倫德拉?莫迪(Narendra Modi)正在錯(cuò)失一個(gè)巨大的機(jī)會(huì)

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.

如果你看一下總體數(shù)據(jù)，就會(huì)發(fā)現(xiàn)外國(guó)公司似乎仍在涌入印度，盡管該國(guó)經(jīng)濟(jì)正因疫情而受到重創(chuàng)。自3月份該國(guó)進(jìn)入封鎖狀態(tài)以來(lái)，該國(guó)已經(jīng)宣布了約200億美元的跨境交易，F(xiàn)acebook和私募股權(quán)巨頭KKR將資金投入數(shù)字公司、太陽(yáng)能電站等領(lǐng)域。樂(lè)觀主義者認(rèn)為，印度很快就會(huì)成為一個(gè)建廠的地方，因?yàn)槠髽I(yè)會(huì)尋求將其供應(yīng)鏈從中國(guó)轉(zhuǎn)移到其他國(guó)家。

詞匯

Reel from/由于…而蹣跚；受…的不好影響

private-equity /私募股權(quán)

solar park/太陽(yáng)能發(fā)電園區(qū)

?

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.

但仔細(xì)看看，就會(huì)發(fā)現(xiàn)另一幅圖景。在監(jiān)管改革中，外國(guó)公司往往走錯(cuò)了路。投資者越來(lái)越傾向于與當(dāng)?shù)卮蠛嘁黄鸪钟猩贁?shù)股權(quán)，而不是自己創(chuàng)業(yè)。印度總理納倫德拉?莫迪(Narendra Modi)正在轉(zhuǎn)向一種反復(fù)無(wú)常、自力更生的政策。本周，印度禁止了59款中國(guó)制造的應(yīng)用程序，包括TikTok。除非情況有所改變，否則印度和在那里投資的公司將無(wú)法發(fā)揮其潛力。

詞匯

Minority/少數(shù)民族；少數(shù)派

Tycoon/企業(yè)界大亨，巨頭

Capricious/反復(fù)無(wú)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年獨(dú)立到1991年自由化之間，印度基本上對(duì)外國(guó)公司關(guān)閉，甚至把可口可樂(lè)(Coca-Cola)踢出了印度。從那時(shí)起，它開(kāi)始試探性地開(kāi)放，2000年后更加自信?？鐕?guó)公司累計(jì)投資超過(guò)5000億美元，其中一些公司還獲得了至關(guān)重要資產(chǎn)的控制權(quán)。沃達(dá)豐在2007年收購(gòu)了一家大型移動(dòng)網(wǎng)絡(luò)的多數(shù)股權(quán)。最大的汽車制造商是日本的鈴木公司。2014年莫迪當(dāng)選時(shí)，他承諾要讓印度變得更加友好，并吸引更多工廠。從理論上講，中美trade war將使印度更容易成為全球生產(chǎn)中心。

詞匯

Tentatively/暫時(shí)地；試驗(yàn)性地

Cumulatively/ 累積地；漸增地

?

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.

莫迪先生做得怎么樣?官員們夸耀說(shuō)，印度在“營(yíng)商環(huán)境便捷指數(shù)”(ease of business)排行榜上的排名迅速上升，從2014年的第142位升至去年的第63位。但現(xiàn)實(shí)卻沒(méi)那么令人印象深刻。印度在全球外國(guó)直接投資(FDI)中的份額僅略有上升，從2014年的2.5%上升到去年的3.3%。與此同時(shí)，一些令人不安的問(wèn)題也在惡化。

詞匯

nudge up/向上微調(diào)

?fester/潰爛；化膿

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.

外國(guó)公司并不總是得到公平的待遇。的確，一些在印度活躍了幾十年的公司，比如聯(lián)合利華，被當(dāng)作本地人對(duì)待。但更多的新來(lái)者可能會(huì)遭到毆打。沃達(dá)豐向印度投入了超過(guò)200億美元，但卻發(fā)現(xiàn)自己面臨著一項(xiàng)重大的追溯性稅收要求、不利的監(jiān)管，以及最近的頻譜稅(一些當(dāng)?shù)毓疽苍獾街貏?chuàng))。亞馬遜(Amazon)和沃爾瑪(Walmart)投資總額也超過(guò)200億美元，它們?cè)?019年面臨著電子商務(wù)規(guī)則的急劇變化，這加大了它們擁有或控制庫(kù)存的難度。

詞匯

Retroactive/追溯的；有追溯效力的；反動(dòng)的

Spectrum/光譜；頻譜；范圍

Levie------levy/征收；征稅

Clobber/擊倒；痛打

Inventory/ ?存貨，存貨清單

??

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.

由于競(jìng)爭(zhēng)環(huán)境并不公平，外國(guó)公司似乎正從擁有自己的子公司轉(zhuǎn)向被動(dòng)地入股有良好關(guān)系的本土公司。福特已將其業(yè)務(wù)并入一家合資企業(yè)。巴黎機(jī)場(chǎng)已經(jīng)獲得了一家基礎(chǔ)設(shè)施公司的非控股權(quán)。一些世界商業(yè)領(lǐng)軍人物購(gòu)買了Jio的少量股份，Jio是印度首富穆克什?安巴尼經(jīng)營(yíng)的一家移動(dòng)電話和電子商務(wù)公司，與亞馬遜、沃爾瑪和沃達(dá)豐競(jìng)爭(zhēng)。在過(guò)去12個(gè)月里宣布的570億美元的跨境交易中，66%是被動(dòng)持股，一半是與少量印度大亨的合作。經(jīng)濟(jì)正由少數(shù)本地贏家主導(dǎo)。根據(jù)投資公司Marcellus的數(shù)據(jù)，70%的企業(yè)利潤(rùn)是由排名前20的公司創(chuàng)造的，其中只有一家是外國(guó)公司，而30年前這一比例為14%。

詞匯

Subsidiary/子公司；下屬公司

who’s who /韋氏字典解釋

1‘The leader of a group

2’a listing or grouping of notable person or things

Tycoon/企業(yè)界大亨，巨頭

?

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.

預(yù)計(jì)今年印度經(jīng)濟(jì)將萎縮4.5%，企業(yè)正在尋找中國(guó)的替代品，你可能認(rèn)為莫迪會(huì)打開(kāi)大門。但他的政策已轉(zhuǎn)向內(nèi)部，反映出向西方國(guó)家保護(hù)主義傾斜。5月12日，他在演講中說(shuō)印度應(yīng)該參與全球供應(yīng)鏈，但也17次提到“自力更生”。隨著與【】緊張關(guān)系的加劇，新一輪的鎮(zhèn)壓已經(jīng)開(kāi)始。除了禁止中國(guó)應(yīng)用外，政府還敦促電子商務(wù)公司在其銷售的商品上貼上“原產(chǎn)國(guó)”標(biāo)簽。外國(guó)公司帶來(lái)了現(xiàn)金、技術(shù)和競(jìng)爭(zhēng)。一旦疫情過(guò)去，印度必須證明自己仍對(duì)企業(yè)開(kāi)放。

詞匯

Prowl/徘徊；巡游

Lurch/突然傾斜