{"id":1617656,"date":"2024-04-18T14:00:26","date_gmt":"2024-04-18T14:00:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.thecanary.co\/?p=1677702"},"modified":"2024-04-18T14:00:26","modified_gmt":"2024-04-18T14:00:26","slug":"more-questions-over-why-uk-aid-is-going-to-cosmetics-and-social-media-companies-in-india","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/2024\/04\/18\/more-questions-over-why-uk-aid-is-going-to-cosmetics-and-social-media-companies-in-india\/","title":{"rendered":"More questions over WHY UK aid is going to cosmetics and social media companies in India"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/div>

On Thursday 18 April the Independent Commission for Aid Impact (ICAI) has released its follow-up review on UK aid to India. ICAI’s review raises questions over some investments made by the UK\u2019s development finance institution British International Investment (BII), including in social media sites and a cosmetics company.<\/p>\n

UK aid: financing a cosmetics company in India<\/h2>\n

As the Canary<\/em> previously reported<\/a>, BII was originally set up in 1948. Now, as the\u00a0IDC report said<\/a>:<\/p>\n

BII invests capital in businesses either directly (by investing equity or providing loans and other debt finance) or indirectly (by investing through financial intermediaries such as private equity funds, banks or micro-financing entities).<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

That is, it invests in the private sectors of other countries. Predictably,\u00a0BII gets much of its funding from foreign ODA<\/a>\u00a0\u2013 with the FCDO ploughing hundreds of millions into it every year.<\/p>\n

However, the\u00a0IDC found all was not well<\/a>. It noted that BII:<\/p>\n