India’s reforms ‘tied up in knots’, US Congress told

A senior government official told a US Congress panel on Tuesday in virtually so many words that India has not done much in recent years to pull up its dwindling economy.

While appreciating India's role in the South Asian region, particularly Afghanistan, assistant secretary of state for South and Central Asia Robert Blake told the Asia and Pacific sub-committee of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, "The growth rate is declining in India, because of declining investment. And because there has been a slowdown in the economic reform efforts of, you know, over the past several years.

"It's no secret that the Indian Parliament has been tied up in knots over debates about corruption and other such things. And so very little has gotten done," Blake said in response to a question from Indian-American Congressman Ami Bera.

Blake said India has passed quite an important reform to open up the country for foreign-direct investment in multi-brand retail, which US thinks is very important, but still not enough.

"They've taken some steps to try to accelerate the approval process for foreign investment. But much more needs to be done and I think the Indians fully recognise that," Blake said.

He praised India's journey of economic development in the past 20 years during which the volume of its GDP "increased 10 times."