India's policies are 'pro-growth', Chidambaram tells US business

Terming India's investment policies as ''growth-oriented'', finance minister P Chidambaram on Wednesday urged American companies to establish manufacturing plants in India.

He made the appeal in meetings with US industry leaders and lawmakers during his ongoing four-day visit to Washington for the annual leadership summit of the US-India Business Council.

Chidambaram emphasised the need for US companies to set up local manufacturing bases in India, saying ''it is in the mutual interest of both countries for India to become a large manufacturing economy''.

The Indian finance minister sought to gloss over the difficulty of doing business in India, where any large foreign investment is invariably bogged down in a political and regulatory quagmire.

In his meeting with the Senator Max Baucus, chairman of the senate committee on finance, Chidambaram mentioned that while some concerns have been expressed about the current business environment in India, the policies adopted by the government are ''pro-growth and WTO (World Trade Organisation) compliant''.

Chidambaram stressed that New Delhi is committed to ensuring a transparent, fair and non-discriminatory investment environment for foreign investors seeking to do business in India.

Chief executive officers and senior executives of companies like Microsoft, Lockheed Martin, Boeing Co and International Lease Finance Corporation (ILFC) raised the issues of transfer pricing and the impact of the Comprehensive Immigration Bill recently passed by the US Senate.

The companies were reported by PTI to be appreciative of the measures taken to address concerns relating to transfer pricing.

Chidambaram apprised the executives of the recommendations of the Arvind Mayaram Committee on enhancing foreign direct investment (FDI) caps in many sectors, and the steps being taken to implement the recommendations.

He also underscored Indian concerns about the provisions in the Comprehensive Immigration Reform Bill relating to skilled non-immigrant visas.

Chidambaram is expected to deliver the keynote address to the annual leadership summit of the US India Business Council today. Before flying back on Friday, he is expected to meet his American counterpart, Jack Lew.

Chidambaram's visit to Washington comes at a time when there is an increasing disenchantment with Indian policies. In the last few weeks, more than 250 US lawmakers have written to US President Barack Obama and Secretary of State John Kerry expressing their concerns over the Indian policies, which they allege are discriminatory and do not provide a level playing field to the US companies.

Two Congressional committees recently held hearings on Indian policies, and lawmakers and representatives of the corporate sector sought the Obama Administration's intervention in India's economic policies.