As the government-promoted investment facilitation agency of the country, Invest India is also an executing body for schemes such as Startup India and PM Science and Technology Initiative. But the questions on the achievements of the organisation by the Ministry of Commerce, have forced its Chief Executive Officer and MD Deepak Bagla to quit.
According to reports by Moneycontrol, the government had pulled up Bagla for failure to accomplish any work on ground, following an audit.
From promoting India to falling out of favour with the state
The man facing scrutiny was also in Davos, pitching the India success story at the World Economic Forum, and leading a group of young entrepreneurs.
As Invest India's CEO, Bagla also took credit for the growth of India as an attractive foreign direct investment destination.
Problems for the agency set up in 2009 started when Bagla took a contingent of 18 people to Davos, much to the displeasure of the secretary for the Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade.
The government wasn't happy about the focus on promotion of Invest India, while it still had to execute core tasks.
More focus on keeping up appearances
Reports suggest that the agency was called out for deflecting attention from on ground responsibilities, using charts, graphs and visuals.
Focus on social media was also higher with emphasis on sending out more tweets, and rosters created to track tweets by employees.
Meetings were largely about publicity, and children of bureaucrats were hired at Invest India for hefty pay packages.
Bagla, who started his career at the World Bank, was on an extension after his term had ended in November 2022.
