NEW DELHI: Billionaire commodities investor Jim Rogers is pulling out of India after becoming frustrated with the pace of reforms being carried out by Prime Minister Nare­ndra Modi, he told Indian financial newspaper Mint.

The Singapore-based hedge fund manager said he had sold his India stock over the right-wing government’s lack of progress on a promised policy overhaul to attract foreign investment and revive the economy.

“I have sold all my India shares... I don’t see anything happening,” Rogers, chairman of Rogers Holdings, said in an interview with the business daily on Wednesday.

“I am sure Modi is a smart guy, he enjoys good press, and he makes a lot of friends for India. But I, as an investor, after almost a year and a half, have decided to move on to other places.” Despite being elected with a huge mandate in May last year, Modi’s hoped-for shake-up had yet to materialise, Rogers said, attacking the country’s notorious red tape, business restrictions and labyrinthine investment rules.

“I, as well as others, thought that Modi was going to change all this. With all these crazy laws and regulations, you make it difficult for foreigners to invest in India,” he said.

Published in Dawn, September 4th, 2015

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