英语听力：VOA双语新闻 24、印度公司积极拓展海外投资机会

　　Investments by Indian companies in foreign countries have risen sharply as they look for newer markets and resources to fuel a growing economy.

到外国投资的印度公司急剧增加，他们意图寻求更新的市场和资源来刺激印度发展中的经济。

For nearly 150 years, Harrisons Malayalam has grown rubber and tea on massive plantations 1 in the southern Indian states of Tamil Nadu and Kerala. But Managing Director Pankaj Kapoor says that despite the growing demand for both commodities, the company cannot develop new land in India.

将近150年来，印度的哈里森.马拉雅拉姆公司(Harrison Malayalam)在印度南部的泰米尔纳德邦和喀拉拉邦大片土地上种植橡胶和茶叶。管理主任卡普尔说，虽然对两种商品的需求持续增加，但公司无法在印度开发新的土地。

"To get land, say 10,000 hectares of land at one place, whichever be the state, is next to impossible, it's not available," noted 2 Kapoor.

卡普尔说：“要在一个地方获得例如1万公顷的土地，无论在哪个邦都是不可能的。”

The company now plans to invest millions of dollars to develop rubber plantations in Africa.

这家公司现在计划在非洲投资数百万美元开发橡胶园。

Kapoor says they have scouted 3 for land in countries like Ethiopia and Ghana.

"It's good to get the land in African countries, because the governments are very keen to get the investors 4 overseas, they have large land, unutilized," Kapoor added. "We can bring in the technology and we can bring in the money."

Harrisons Malayalam is just one of scores of Indian companies which are pushing overseas in search of resources such as land and coal, newer markets, or technology.

哈里森.马拉雅拉姆公司只是向海外推进的大批印度公司之一。这些公司到海外寻找土地、煤矿等资源，以及更新的市场或科技。

Between April 2010 and March 2011 Indian companies invested nearly $44 billion overseas, more than double the previous year.

在2010年4月到2011年3月，印度公司在海外投资了将近440亿美元，比前一年增加了一倍多。

They have gone to Africa, Asia, Europe and Australia in sectors 5 ranging from farming, pharmaceuticals 6 and energy, to telecommunications and infrastructure 7. D.K. Joshi, chief economist 8 at the Crisil consulting firm in Mumbai, says the growing investments are driven by several factors.

印度公司到非洲、亚洲、欧洲和澳大利亚投资，投资领域包括农业、制药、能源，通讯和基础建设等产业。位在孟买的克里斯尔顾问公司(Crisil)的首席经济学家乔什说，投资增加是几个因素使然。

"Indian corporates have been cash rich and on top of that the foreign exchange regulations were liberalized so that allowed Indians to go out," Joshi noted. "The valuations of foreign companies after the global financial crisis, they were pretty good, so it made sense to go out and acquire companies to expand the global footprint."

乔什说：“印度公司的现金一直很多，还有外汇规定放宽了，使得印度公司能到海外去。外国公司在全球金融危机后的估价很不错，所以印度公司到海外收购来拓展全球足迹是非常合理的。”

The overseas investors include some of India's biggest groups, including: Reliance Industries, the Tata conglomerate 9, the Essar Group and Bharti Airtel. The Tata conglomerate now earns more than half its revenues overseas.

印度的海外投资者包括了一些最大的集团，包括信实工业(Reliance Industries)、塔塔集团(Tata conglomerate)、爱莎集团(Essar Group)和巴帝电信(Bharti Airtel)。塔塔集团现在的营收有超过一半来自海外。

Chandrajit Banerjee, who heads the Confederation of Indian Industry, says Indian companies have become increasingly confident as they have grown in scale and size since India liberalized its economy two decades ago.

印度工业总会主席班尼杰说，印度公司的规模自从20年前经济自由化后越来越大，使得他们的信心大增。

"They became ambitious, their aspiration 11 levels went up, and therefore they started looking offshore," said Banerjee. "Indian industry has today become much more competitive and therefore they are being able to acquire, they are able to match technology, they are able to export, they are able to invest."

班尼杰说：“他们野心勃勃、满怀抱负，他们开始望向海外。今天的印度工业有竞争力多了，所以他们能够收购、跟上科技、出口以及投资。”

Economists 12 also say that as decision-making slows down in India in the wake of high profile corruption 13 scandals, many businesses prefer to invest in what they call more "predictable" markets. A survey by the Federation 10 of Indian Chambers 14 of Commerce and Industry suggests that business confidence in India has plunged 15 due to high interest rates, frustration 16 with governance and problems with issues such as land acquisition.

However, economist Joshi warns that the pace of overseas investments may slow down in the coming months due to concerns of another recession in Western countries.

然而，经济学家乔什警告，海外投资的步伐可能在这几个月慢下来，原因是西方国家出现另一波经济衰退的隐忧。

"I think the companies will try to preserve cash, because their margins 17 are already coming under pressure, and I think there is also a fear that if the global economy crashes again, then I think there will be a credit freeze and you will require money," Joshi added. "So everybody is in a cautious mode right now, so they are likely to go a bit slow in their global acquisitions unless the dust settles on the global environment once again."

乔什说：“我想公司会把现金留着，因为他们的利润开始受影响，还有人担心如果全球经济再一次崩溃，将发生借贷冻结，而你就会需要现金。所以所有人现在都很谨慎，除非全球环境再次拨云见日，否则他们想放慢全球收购脚步。”

Meanwhile, the government says it wants to speed up the pace of economic reforms in such areas as labor 18 laws and land acquisition to encourage Indian companies to invest more money at home.

在此同时，印度政府说将加快在劳动法和土地购买方面的经济改革速度，来鼓励印度公司留在印度投资。