India reforms agenda: Tim Geithner,Ben Bernanke to meet PM Manmohan Singh today

The meeting came amid a flurry of Indian govt initiatives to attract foreign investment.

US Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner was meeting Tuesday with Indian Finance Minister Palaniappan Chidambaram in New Delhi to discuss ways to improve economic ties between their two countries.

The meeting came amid a flurry of new Indian government initiatives to attract foreign investment,improve the business climate and reignite the nation’s declining economic growth.

Last month,the Cabinet agreed to allow foreign retail giants,such as US-based Wal-Mart,into the Indian market. It has also moved to allow greater foreign investment in the broadcasting industry,airlines,insurance and pension

U.S. Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke was also participating in the meeting,where officials were expected to discuss U.S. concerns about the pace of financial reforms in India and Indian concerns about increasing difficulties in getting U.S. visas for IT professionals.

The U.S. officials were to meet Prime Minister Manmohan Singh later Tuesday.

Reforms initiatives very promising,says US Treasury Secy

(PTI)

Describing India’s recent reforms initiatives as “very promising”,US Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner today said it would have positive outcomes for the country’s economy.

“The reforms outlined by the government of India offer a very promising path to improving growth outcomes for the Indian economy,” he said at a joint news conference with Finance Minister P Chidambaram.

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Geithner said this while replying to a question on India’s recent decision to open multi-brand retail to foreign investment. The other recent reforms initiative of the

government include the decision to raise FDI cap in insurance from 26 to 49 per cent and allowing foreign investment in pension.

The reforms,Geithner said,would lay the foundation for improving investments in the economy and ensure that “gains of those growth and investments are shared more broadly by the citizen of India”.

Geithner and US Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke are on a two-day visit to participate in the 3rd Cabinet Level Meeting of Indo-US Economic and Financial Partnership. Among others,the meeting was also attended by RBI Governor D Subbarao.

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Referring to the joint meetings,Chidambaram said: “This forum has given us a much better opportunity to be able to talk to each other and understand each other. In today’s meetings we discussed the global economic and financial developments”.

Geithner and Bernanke are scheduled to address business leaders here and visit Mumbai tomorrow before leaving for Tokyo to attend the International Monetary Fund and World Bank meetings.