After India’s Finance Minister Arun Jaitley met his British counterpart George Osborne, at a press meet for Indian journalists was held at the India House.
Discussing global situation on the economies of both countries, Minister Jaitley said: “We were particularly interested in British investors looking at investments in infrastructure in India. We are particularly keen that large British companies that are particul arly involved in financing start investing in Indian infrastructure. The possibility of their investing either directly in projects or through the Indian Investment Infrastructure Fund that we have created were both discussed. Additionally besides infrastructure, financing something in which we have interest, we also had discussions with regard to the Prime Minister’s announcement in November about the listing of the rupee bonds in London. And the United Kingdom is quite keen that the Rail Ministry’s PSU which is coming out with a proposal should also consider listing at London. An indication to that effect had been given by the Prime Minister.”
Speaking to Asian Voice exclusively about the concrete decisions that were made, the Finance Minister added, “You see, concrete decisions...this is a continuous dialogue. And in a dialogue of this kind you don’t reach deals. You don’t negotiate contracts. You explore areas of cooperation with each other. And if you want to know the concrete situation, the concrete specifics; Britain has agreed to cooperate with India in matters of infrastructure financing, that some of the Indian bonds should be listed at London, something with which we are also in agreement. And therefore these are two areas under the current economic situation which are of mutual interest to both the countries.”
