World Scientific Publishing Company Trade and Investment in South Asia: An Analysis

Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) flows started gaining traction in South Asia from the late 20th century onwards, when nations from the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) began moving away from highly controlled regimes and adopting liberal and open economic policies.In the context of surplus labour and capital scarcity faced by South Asian countries such as India, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka, to varying degrees, the economic reform process has provided an opportunity to actively promote inward FDI flows, with the goal of providing the much-needed capital for the growth of this region. Several policy initiatives were undertaken to attract FDI and incentives were announced to fascinate investors, resulting in the inflow of FDI across the region.This book examines FDI inflows in SAARC nations in the light of regional policy changes in the 21st century. It investigates the relationship between trade and FDI in the region, and also provides insights into the ease of doing business in the SAARC region. About the Author Dr Rahul Choudhury is a Visiting Research Fellow at the Institute of South Asian Studies, National University of Singapore. His primary research interests include foreign direct investments, e-commerce, international trade, and trade integration. Rahul has diverse experiences working in both the public and the private sector, in academia and in the industry in various capacities. He is the author of numerous book chapters and academic journal papers.Dr Dinkar Nayak is Dean and Head, Department of Business Economics, Faculty of Commerce, the Maharaja Sayajirao University of Baroda, Gujarat, India. Dr Nayak has teaching experience of more than 30 years and his research interests include international trade, regional economics, Canadian studies, and financial economics. A long list of research articles published by various national and international journals, and book chapters, go to his credit. He has also authored a number of books and is a key resource person for many Indian universities.