‘India Shall Overcome’, Says Krishna To US Business

Washington: As India and the US begin their strategic dialogue, India has insisted it will restore investor confidence and regain economic momentum even as a top White House official voiced US businesses’ “worrisome” mood.

“In an era of global inter-dependence, not everything is within the powers of national governments,” Indian External Affairs Minister S.M. Krishna said at the US-India Business Council (USIBC) Tuesday ahead of the annual dialogue that he co-chairs with US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.
“But we are confident that we will restore investor confidence and regain economic momentum and growth,” Krishna told the business forum comprising over 350 top US and Indian companies.
“Over the past two decades of extraordinary change in the Indian economy, there have been periods when the growth seemed to lose its steam and the agenda of reform seemed to be slowing,” he said.
“But time and again, our economy rebounded with new vigour on the strength of strong fundamentals and supported by some policies and prudent economic management,” Krishna said.
Earlier, saying that US has enormous stake in India’s emergence as a global power, President Barack Obama’s top adviser on international economic issues voiced US businesses concern over the investment climate in India.
“US firms have increasingly grown concerned about the economic relationship, fearing that the investment atmosphere has deteriorated or that domestic political challenges are slowing the pace of reform,” deputy national security advisor Michael Froman said.
“While there has been significant improvement in the bilateral trade and economic relationship, there is much more that can be done,” he said.
“As strategic partners, it is important that we be open and frank about how best to go about that.”
“We have enormous stake in India’s emergence as a global power. India is of course world’s largest democracy and soon to be perhaps the most populous country,” Froman said.
As such the mood of US businesses should be “worrisome” as the business community has been one of the strongest proponents of a strong US-India relationship, he said listing issues ranging from civil nuclear power deal, to taxes to implementation of the regulatory reforms.

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