No backpedal on reforms, Pranab to tell tycoons in US

Amid the struggles to push key economic policies at home, the UPA government is out to reassure global investors that the country has not wavered from its reforms roadmap. Saubhadra Chatterji reports.

Amid the struggles to push key economic policies at home, the UPA government is out to reassure global investors that the country has not wavered from its reforms roadmap.

In his forthcoming tour of the United States, finance minister Pranab Mukherjee will hold a special meeting on January 28 with the Chicago Council on Global Affairs.

The meeting is significant as 32 Fortune 500 companies are headquartered in Chicago. Among them are Boeing, Caterpillar, McDonald's, Kraft, Abbott Laboratories and Sara Lee. The Indian consulate in Chicago has been asked to invite top business leaders for the event, which includes a Q&A session with the minister.

This will be Mukherjee's second meeting with US investors in five months. In September last year, he attended a meeting of the US-India CEO Forum in Washington, where it was emphasised that joint efforts be made to increase bilateral trade and investment and forge stronger corporate partnerships.

Mukherjee is expected to tell top US business leaders that the Indian government is committed to reforms.

According to sources, he may also convey that the UPA's agenda of inclusive growth is creating a robust domestic market despite the slump in the global economy.

Mukherjee will spend a day in Chicago, where he will also announce a Chair named after Swami Vivekananda at the Chicago University and inaugurate an exhibition of Rabindranath Tagore's paintings at the Art Institute of Chicago.