US and international financial bodies bullish on India

International financial bodies including the IMF, World Bank, and top US federal bodies like the Federal Reserve are "highly impressed" by India's growth at a time when emerging economies are slowing down, officials told a group of top Indian bankers. "For the first time, we are getting a very positive feedback on India. They say that India today is a shining star. They are highly impressed by how things are shaping up in India," G Gopalakrishna, director of RBI's Center for Advanced Financial Research and Learning (CAFRAL) told at the conclusion of a three-day trip to the US Capital. Gopalakrishna is leading a team of 24 senior executives from top Indian banks on a two-week orientation/study tour of the US, during which they will have first-hand exposure to the American banking system, international financial institutions and best practices from here which could be implemented in India. "At a time when many emerging economies are having problems including China, they feel that India is one country where they have seen tremendous improvement, whether it is controlling inflation or addressing fiscal deficit," said Gopalakrishna, sharing his experience of meeting officials from these US and international financial institutions. From Washington, the team of senior Indian banking executives now travel to New York to have an interaction with officials of the New York Stock Exchange, NASDAQ and private investors and analysts from J P Morgan and Citi Bank among others. Observing that the financial and banking sector in the US is very bullish about India, he said they feel that today India is the only major country in the world that can give a 7.5 per cent growth.

One of the key point of interaction with the US financial and banking institutions has been their experiences from the 2008 financial crisis, lessons learnt and what steps Indian system can take to prevent such an economic collapse, P Sitaram, Executive Director of IDBI Bank said. "The meetings here has helped us understand the context in which Reserve Bank of India does a few things, It broadened our outlook. " Sitaram said, adding that one of the memorable moments of their trip so far has been a trip to the headquarters of the Federal Reserve and having meeting in the same board room where some of the historic decisions have been taken as far back as the World War II.