San Francisco: The Government is making efforts to make it easier for Non-Resident Indians to do business with India, S K Krishna Kumar, Secretary, Ministry of Overseas Indian Affairs, has said.

He also informed a large gathering of Indian Americans in San Francisco yesterday (Oct 25, 2004) that NRIs holding US passports should be able to apply for dual citizenship from November 1.

Responding to questions on issues concerning philanthropic, business and commercial investments in India, Kumar said the Government is doing everything possible to make it easier for overseas Indians to invest in the country.

About the difficulties faced by NRI-run philanthropic organisations in carrying out development work in India, Kumar said his Ministry planned to form partnerships with State Governments to facilitate the process so that more philanthropic organisations could invest.

Dispelling any fears that this was a Government attempt to control, centralise or standardise, the Secretary said, "This is not to say that you should give the money to us or we will be the broker.

"By definition, NGOs are more comfortable working with other NGOs. If you need, we will help you identify who are the credible NGOs, what their track record is and what are the modalities of carrying out the work."