Very favorably impressed by recent Indian reforms: US

A top US official while praising the recent steps taken by the Indian government said she hopes that New Delhi would continue with the reforms in particular in the infrastructure sector and financial markets. "I have been very favorably impressed by some of the recent reform efforts undertaken by the Indian government," the US Undersecretary of the Treasury for International Affairs Lael Brainard told reporters yesterday ahead of the upcoming G-20 Meeting of Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors in Moscow. Brainard said the outgoing Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner had very good conversations with his Indian counterpart P Chidambaram when he was in Delhi earlier this year. "We have seen some important reform commitments subsequent to that, which I think bode well," she said. "Of course he is going to continue to want to improve its investment in areas such as infrastructure and in financial markets to enable more vibrant investment response. We support those efforts, and we're going to continue to engage India through our bilateral dialogue and also in the G-20," Brainard said in response to a question. "I have to say we worked extremely well. We have mutual interests with the Indian government in promoting demand in the G-20, and we've been working very well in that forum together," she said. The G-20 Finance Ministers meeting would be held in Moscow on February 15 and 16.