Stating this on Friday, Jagdish Shettighar, Convener, Economic Affairs Committee of BJP said: "the issue of foreign direct investment in the media is a complicated subject as it touches various spheres of life including cultural and the freedom of expression but the government will soon give its decision."

Shettighar, was speaking at a seminar on `Impact of FDI on market-driven economic development' organised by the Federation of the Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (Ficci) and Freidrich Naumanstiftung (FNST).

He further said that the Indian situation in this regard could not be compared to that of other countries as even Singapore which had an open market policy imposed restrictions on the media.

Comparing the foreign direct investments inflows between India and China, Shettigar said that the Indian government had a clear cut policy in this subject unlike China which has an ad-hoc policy and decides on a case by case basis.

On the issue of multinationals establishing 100 per cent subsidiaries he said that foreign joint venture partner should necessarily procure a no objection certificate (NOC) from the Indian partner.

"The very purpose of having foreign collaboration would be defeated if the joint venture partner is allowed to walk out," he said.

The losers in this game are apart from the Indian partners, the other stakeholders like investors, financial institutions and banks.

Shettigar also said that lending rates in the country was relatively high as compared to those in the foreign markets who get cheaper capital. He said that it would be a big achievement if the lending rates came down by 3 to 4 per cent. "It is the government's promise that FDI in India will be cleared within sixty days as we have minimised the case of suitcase culture" said Shettighar.

On protection to domestic industry, he said: "we do not accept the word protectionism, domestic industry must compete but on the other hand it must be given a breathing space and not pushing them into a swimming pool" said Shettigar. "No government can control the entry or the functioning of any media," said Bibek Debroy, Director, Rajiv Gandhi Research Foundation. He said that lending rates in India was high as there was shortage of capital in the economy. Foreign direct investment in the infrastructure sector was a unique phenomenon in the Indian context, said S Herzog, Project Director, FNST. For instance, he said that Europe is not keen in FDI in the infrastructure sector but in the consumer goods and the capital goods.

Tourism, he said is the second largest industry in the world but India does not figure in it. There should be more investment in the service industry especially tourism which is a great employment generator, said Herzog. He also said that there was a requirement in the change of the mindset of assessing sick industry. Worldover, as long as the company is not bankrupt it was a viable one and its assets like real estate, capital as well as manpower don't vanish. These could be redeployed in a productive manner.