India open to investments: Chidambaram

Says there's a huge opportunity for investors

Finance Minister P Chidambaram today rejected suggestions that India was imposing restrictions on investments and said the country's economy was opening up in a gradual manner.

"We are not restricting (investments). We are opening up in a gradual manner. Where were we in 1991? What are we today, in 2013? In 22 years, we have opened practically 90 per cent of India's economy," Chidambaram said in the Charlie Rose Show.

"There are still some areas which are closed or which are restricted. But they will open up. But the areas that are being opened up are so huge - steel, power, roads, airports, seaports, all this is open. There's a huge opportunity for investors," he said.

He said the country could become a "giant economy", if it grows at eight per cent continuously the for seven-eight years. "If we continue to grow at eight per cent for, say, seven years or eight years or 10 years.