India eyes big role on Euro crisis: FM

While the oil exploration issue was already straining its ties with China, India is now worried about its neighbour cosying up to Europe with its strategy of bailing out crisis-hit euro zone nations. Saubhadra Chatterji reports.

While the oil exploration issue was already straining its ties with China, India is now worried about its neighbour cosying up to Europe with its strategy of bailing out crisis-hit euro zone nations.

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New Delhi wants to be seen as a key force in pushing world monetary institutions and the European Union to take steps to bail out troubled economies in the region, and has decided to turn more proactive in forums like BRICS, G-20 and G-24.

Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee told HT, "We have to take a more active role in evolving a consensus in various forums for resolving this European debt crisis." He however refused to discuss the China angle.

Meetings of the finance ministers and central bank governors of BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa) and G-20 are scheduled to discuss the crisis. Finance ministers of the group of 24 (G-24) nations will also meet to discuss the issue.

Finance ministers of the G-24 nations will also meet to discuss the issue. India will chair the BRICS meeting and take over the chairmanship of G-24 from South Africa.

Apart from being worried about possible aftershocks of any European country's economic collapse, New Delhi is said to be apprehensive that China, sitting on a huge corpus of foreign exchange, may be wooed by weaker European nations.