Mumbai: Visiting US Treasury Secretary John Snow on Wednesday urged India to open up its financial sector?mainly banking, insurance and pension funds?in order to allow larger inflow of long term foreign capital for various infrastructure projects.
Emphasizing on the various tie-ups between the two nations, he said, "We want to engage ourselves in an open environment for all around development of India".
Welcoming the FDI hike of 49 per cent in the insurance sector, Snow said, "We want India to be a strong global partner. India will gain significantly from integrating its economy with international practices".
Snow said the United States would encourage raising the cap in insurance to mobilise Indian savings, estimated at 28 per cent of gross domestic product.
"We want to engage with the political and economic leaders to open up the financial sector as it has a lot of potential," he said, hours after meeting central bank governor Yaga Venugopal Reddy.
Indian banks have thrived in recent years given the economic growth and benign interest rates, which have spurred demand for loans and services such as private banking for the rich.
But India does not allow foreign takeovers of banks?unless it is a weak private sector bank?which has restricted the growth of foreign operators.
Some foreign banks, like Citigroup, have grown assets by setting up subsidiary finance companies which do not attract the same restrictions as banks and can lend more liberally.
Comments
0 comment