>>>a. A law was passed in India called the "Foreign Exchange Regulation Act" in 1973 with the aim of regulating payments and foreign exchange. It contained language that was extremely restrictive for any foreign investments, by all foreign entities including Indian citizens living abroad.<<<
I'm pretty sure that you have misunderstood the law. Here's a report prepared by a group at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign in 1987;
"""During 1977, IBM was asked to withdraw from India due to its unwillingness to comply with the Foreign Exchange Regulation Act (FERA) of 1973. Earlier, IBM commenced operations in India in 1952, with long term objectives of growth and increasing market share in the world com- puter and information systems market through an improved competitive stance. During a period of 25 years, IBM made total profits of approxi- mately U.S. $5 million on a total investment of $8 million. Total remittable profits, at the time of phasing out its operations in 1970, were approximately $10 million. These profits included a net asset value of approximately $5 million.
This poor performance was largely attributed to several factors, including compensation of approximately $7.5 million paid to employees and assets sold at less than book value. Other factors included a high rate of effective taxation of 80% to 85% as well as low rates of depreciation on equipment. IBM-India operations constituted only 0.06% of IBM Corporation's total business. IBM's activities in India during this period and the events leading to the IBM-India withdrawal are summarized in Appendix A.
During this period, the Government of India (GOI) alleged that a large number of foreign-owned and foreign-controlled corporations operating in India were making excessively high gross revenues and before-tax profits. Further, the repatriation of large amounts of capital by the multinational corporations constituted a serious drain on India's scarce foreign exchange reserves. The GOI contended that the multinational corporations were using monopolistic power to stifle competition in the Indian market. In addition, the multinational corporations, according to the GOI, gained favorable rates for large financial credits, thereby competing with domestic firms for scarce capital. Finally, the GOI per- ceived that the multinational corporations were transferring obsolete technology or current technology of minor importance for developmental purposes.
Surveying the industrial scene, the GOI found that most foreign direct investment had occurred in the consumer goods sector. These ventures yielded high rates of profit and required simple technology which could be furnished by domestic entrepreneurs.
Based on these findings, the GOI formulated its own priorities with regard to the country's development. With an abundance of natural re- sources and a large supply of low-cost skilled labor, India provided the multinational corporations with a large, untapped market and opportunity to enhance their international competitiveness.
Taking stock of its developmental priorities and increased bargaining strength, the GOI formulated its desire to influence the course of foreign direct investment in India. The primary objective was to ensure that foreign direct investment in India would fall in line with the nation's developmental priorities. The means adopted to achieve this objective was the Foreign Exchange Regulation Act (FERA) legislated on January 1, 1974.
Foreign Exchange Regualtion Act— The FERA affected all foreign companies with foreign equity exceeding 40 percent. According to FERA, four levels of foreign equity participation were permitted.
First, all trading companies engaged in purely commercial activities as well as manufacturing enterprises utilizing "non-sophisticated" technology, were required to reduce their foreign equity to 40 percent.
Second, "high technology" companies, utilizing "sophisticated" technology and/or engaging in "special" activities, as designated by the GOI, were permitted to retain a foreign equity holding of 74 percent.
A third intermediate level of 51 percent foreign equity was established for multi-activity companies engaged in both sophisticated technology fields and other commercial and trading activities.
The fourth level of 100 percent foreign equity was permitted only in those instances where foreign firms were engaged in purely export activities."""
https://www.ideals.illinois.edu/bitstream/handle/2142/28913/...
That sounds like an equity grab to me.
>>> b. This was not initially a concern, but became a huge problem during a 21 month period between 1975-77 when a state of emergency was declared in India [[following the assassination of the then Prime Minister]] edit: incorrect attribution, emergency was declared, but the prime minister was assassinated a few years later.
c. The law was fixed/made more flexible in 1993, and foreign investments immediately started returning. <<<
The assassination in of itself was a result of an intense power struggle in the Indian state. It's not so hard to look at it and see that these people needed additional revenue and decided to pressure successful companies to get a cut of their business. You can call that market protection if you want or attach any other label, but the fact is that they saw (from their perspective) a potential source of revenue and they flexed their muscle to get a slice of the pie. It backfired and they had to drop the changes they made to get people back on the table.
>>> d. The act was repealed in its entirety in 1998. <<<
The protections were enshrined elsewhere. The only thing really changed was that now the Indian market was large enough and that the power players were willing to make nudge-nudge-wink-wink exceptions for much smaller fee.
>>> e. The issue mentioned in the article revolves around a complaint being made to CCI and as "a complaint filed with CCI cannot be withdrawn" there is no choice but to investigate.
f. The $5B amount is baseless and pure conjecture with no source/comment from either the Competition Commission of India, Lawmakers or Google. <<<
I've said nothing about the amount or the complaint, just that such shenanigans aren't out of the ordinary from the Indian power players.
>>>Strangely there are very few to no parallels over here. It definitely does not warrant a statement as broad as India is just not a good place for anyone (other than its citizens perhaps) to do business.<<<
So a country where you have to get a permit for doing every small thing and there's a bribe associated with each permit is a good place to do business?