India Opens Up

Welcoming foreign investors

For more than a generation after it won independence from Britain in 1947, India steadfastly tried to become self-sufficient in virtually everything from steel to grain. Now, however, the government of Prime Minister Indira Gandhi has departed from that policy and begun the careful wooing of foreign investment. Says a highly placed New Delhi official: "The old approach of doing everything ourselves has clearly failed to work."

The policy change was prompted largely by India's need for money for its ambitious $166 billion sixth five-year plan. India is also looking for...