MUMBAI, Oct. 30 (UPI) -- Visiting U.S. Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson praised India’s economic progress, while urging the government not to restrict the flow of capital.
Speaking to Indian and U.S. business executives in India’s financial capital Mumbai, the former chairman of Goldman Sachs credited the country’s economic reforms for its “remarkable growth,” The New York Times reported Tuesday.
“In the long term, India can take a number of steps to become even more competitive,” said Paulson on his first trip to India as a U.S. official on a mission to get India expand its capital markets, the newspaper said.
India remains concerned as its rupee continues to appreciate sharply against a weakening U.S. dollar, adversely affecting its exports. It also is concerned about the huge inflow of foreign money into its already booming stock markets, which led regulators to introduce restrictions recently.
Paulson said capital flow restrictions are “blunt instruments and can have unintended consequences,” the Times reported.
The Financial Times reported Paulson also used his trip to promote the implementation of the Indo-U.S. civilian nuclear deal, which may be scuttled because of opposition mainly from leftist parties in India’s ruling coalition government.
