Since India began its economic reforms in 1991, the country's overseas investments have been gradually rising.

According to the statistics of United Nations Conference on Trade and Development, the volume of overseas investments by India in 1990 was a mere $6 million, but it increased to $514 million in 2000 and then soared to $19.7 billion in 2007. Against the backdrop of the financial crisis, India's ambitions to invest abroad were to some extent frustrated, but it still maintained a total amount of $15 billion in overseas investments in 2011.

In order to protect and expand its overseas interests, India has adopted a series of measures, some of which are familiar to China. But there are also different measures from which China can learn valuable lessons.

Compared with China, India's overseas investments are more market and resource oriented. Since 1991, India's private enterprises have greatly engaged in investing abroad. The volume of overseas investments by private enterprises is small but they cover a wide range of programs.

In recent years, India's state-owned enterprises have also quickened their steps to invest abroad, mainly focusing on energy and resource industry. India's overseas investments are concentrated on developed countries, although the weight of developing countries has been increasing recently.

India gives full play to private enterprises and mainly uses international rules and bilateral or multilateral treaties to protect its overseas investments in those developed countries with a relatively sound legal system, while in those developing countries or less developed countries, it uses comprehensive means to safeguard its overseas interests.

China should make up for its deficiencies here. It should enhance the study of enterprises' investment strategy and strengthen the market investments in developed countries based on carefully studying their laws and regulations.

More importantly, China should actively support the development of private enterprises and non-governmental forces, encouraging them to invest in foreign countries.

India is good at using non-governmental influence in safeguarding and expanding overseas investments. India has a relatively mature civil society, and there are a lot of non-governmental units such as chambers of commerce, NGOs and think tanks, which have a close relationship with the international society and India's authorities.

They are used as favorable means for India to protect its overseas interests, complementing the inadequate governmental agencies. Former Indian ambassador Kishan S. Rana described this as a phenomenon unique to India and called on the Ministry of External Affairs to promote it.

That's also why India suffers less political prejudice and accusations of promoting "new colonialism," as China does.

Currently, China is still unable to use non-governmental organizations as an important means to protect overseas interests. China's private enterprises are less developed than India's, the country's public diplomacy is just starting and it hasn't established a real civil society. Meanwhile, China lacks effective communications with international NGOs.

Providing foreign assistance is another effective way for India to protect its overseas interests. Take India's investments in Africa, where education and training play an important role. There are also education and training programs as part of China's African investments, but they are not as effective as India's. China's investments mainly focus on infrastructure construction and material assistance, but India incorporates its values, like democracy and human rights, into those investments programs, which means it receives little criticism from the Western countries.

As for developing relations with regional organizations, China and India focus on different aspects. China emphasizes strengthening economic ties while India highlights the importance of values, historical and cultural traditions, and social connections. It pays more attention on the interaction with these organizations.

A community of interests could be formed through economic cooperation, but a community of values could be formed through shared values and cultural exchanges. The community of interests could break up with the disappearing of common economic interests, while a community of values could exist for much longer. 

Source of documents：globaltimes.cn