A representational image of the Bombay Stock Exchange
The economic slowdown accompanying the coronavirus outbreak in the country has weakened many Indian companies and made them vulnerable to takeovers by foreign investors, former Congress President Rahul Gandhi said on Sunday.
"The government must not allow foreign interests to take control of any Indian corporate at this time of national crisis," the Lok Sabha parliamentarian from Wayanad constituency said in a tweet.
The advice by the opposition leader is on the lines of what has been happening in other countries, where governments have been taking steps to make it harder for foreign investors to expand their footprint in domestic economies, as national lockdowns disrupt businesses and have led to revising of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) projections of major powers. Earlier this week, Germany unveiled a new set of rules which give the government powers to veto any takeover of a domestic company from foreign entities outside the European Union.
Meanwhile, in India, major rating agencies have been forced to downgrade the growth projections for the country in the face of a looming economic slowdown due to the pandemic.
American firm Goldman Sachs has predicted that India's economic growth is likely to plummet to a multi-decade low of 1.6 per cent in the fiscal year 2020-21 due to COVID-19 pandemic and ensuing measures like lockdowns and social distancing, Press Trust of India (PTI) reported on April 8.
Also read: Coronavirus makes inroads into 22 of Madhya Pradesh's 55 districts
