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PM promises to bring down tariffs
Singh told a group of global CEOs that India is determined to slash its tariff rates to compete with Asean.
India is determined to slash its tariff rates further to make the country as competitive as Asean, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has promised a group of globally influential American CEOs.
Speaking to heads of US multinationals, including those in the Fortune 500 list on Wednesday, Singh outlined his economic vision for India, getting to know from and telling the captains of industry what all could be done to make the country an economic powerhouse.
Among other things, he said the Government wanted to bring down tariffs.
"We will bring down tariff rates to make them comparative to those of Asean (Association of South-East Asian Nations) and other countries," Singh told the group of CEOs at a meeting hosted by Indian Ambassador Ronen Sen and JP Morgan Chase Chairman William Harrison.
Also attending the interaction, which had no fixed agenda and which took the shape of a back-and-forth conversation, were the virtual Who's Who of American industry: Exxon-Mobil president Rex W Tillerson, GE chairman Jeffrey Immelt, Citicorp/Citibank chairman William R Rhodes, Dow Chemical chairman Andrew N Liveris, Pepsico CEO Steven S Reinemund, News Corporation chairman Rupert Murdoch and New York Stock Exchange CEO John A Thain.
All of them are members of the India-US CEOs Forum that was set up in July this year. Taken together, they represent a market capitalisation of $1.4 trillion and assets totalling $3.3 trillion.
Sen gave the impression that the CEOs and chairmen were buoyant about India, in light of the tremendous possibilities for profitability the country offers in a wide range of sectors ranging from infrastructure to energy.
At the end of the meeting, it was decided that the business leaders would make concrete suggestions that would make India a better investment destination.
None of them raised any issue related to Indian politics, including the fact that Singh's Congress-led coalition government is dependent on the Communist parties, which has in varying degrees opposed the country's economic reforms.
The Prime Minister also assured them that the reforms, unleashed in 1991, were irreversible.
Referring to the comments of the CEOs on Indian infrastructure, Sen frankly admitted that the country did not have a single airport of international standards and none of her ports could be compared to even that of Colombo.
"This was a very, very important part of the Prime Minister's visit (to the US)," Sen said. "He is very, very clear about his agenda, that the economic content of the foreign policy is very, very critical."
