India's future growth will depend on investment in infrastructure, says Timothy -India News and Travel Times Provides India-centric and other News and Features

Visiting United States Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner on Tuesday said that India's economic relationship with the US offers promising growth opportunities for both American and Indian companies and India's future growth would depend on its investment in public infrastructure. "India is embarked on a very substantial economy, which will depend upon in part on its ability to substantially increase investment in public infrastructure. And future growth in India will depend on part on its success in doing that," said Geithner. Geithner is in New Delhi to launch a new bilateral economic dialogue with India, with focus on macroeconomic stability and financial markets, India has a dynamic entrepreneurial private sector, a demonstrated ability to compete in the global market, and a commitment to quality higher education. With those strengths and the Minister's proposed reforms, India's economic growth, already impressive, will be even stronger in the future. "This economic relationship offers very promising growth opportunities for American firms, just as it does for Indian firms. And we are going to work more closely over time to make sure that we are taking advantages of those opportunities not just in infrastructure but broadly across both the economies," he added. Geithner also spoke optimistically about a strong recovery from the financial crisis and the improved economic situation of the United States, at a joint press conference with Union Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee on the launch of the India-U.S. Financial and Economic Partnership. "The world has now started to come out of the great recession, the worst, and the most severe crisis since the Great Depression. In the United States, the economy is now being growing for three quarters. While unemployment remains unacceptably high, the economy has added jobs during four of the last five months," said Geithner. "Private investment is increasing, productivity growth is very high. The financial system is recovering, savings have improved, and economy is now borrowing significantly less from the rest of the world," he added. The India-U.S. Financial and Economic Partnership would also encompass discussions of economic challenges in the two countries, as well as in the broader context of the G-20 commitment to strong, sustainable and balanced growth. "As we move to an economy that is saving more and investing more, we want to see broader reforms and changes outside the United States. And this is in interest of the world that produce stronger domestic demand-like growth like you see in India today," said Geithner. "So that the world emerges from this growing at a strong rate of growth but a more balanced and sustainable rate of growth. That is going to require changes in United States and going to require changes around the world," he added. Geithner, who arrived here along with Federal Reserve Vice Chairman Donald Kohn, also met Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh earlier in the day. On Wednesday, Geithner will hold a roundtable discussion with US financial companies and Indian entrepreneurs in Mumbai.