Video Conference on Indian Budget Draws Prominent US Companies

By STAFF WRITER

WASHINGTON: A video conference on the Indian Budget 1997-1998 was organized by the Economic Wing of the Embassy of India, the India Interest Group, and the Confederation of Indian Industry, here March 7.

Montek Singh Ahluwalia, Finance Secretary, and NK Singh, Revenue Secretary in the Government of India, gave a brief overview of the Budget and answered questions from the participants. Prominent US companies which participated included General Electric, AT&T, US West, Enron, Hughes, Black and Veatch, and Lucent Technologies among others.

Ray Vickery, Assistant Secretary for Trade, US Department of Commerce, and representatives of the Department of State, Department of Treasury, and the National Association of Manufacturers of USA also participated.

Shekhar Datta, President, Confederation of Indian Industry, and Timothy Richards of General Electric, representing the Chairman of India Interest Group, gave a brief introduction.

Ahluwalia then gave a brief overview of the proposals contained in the budget and NK Singh outlined the initiatives undertaken towards tax reforms.

In the question-and-answer session that followed, participants asked about theng up of the health insurance sector to guarantees for private power projects.

A question was raised about the Indian Government's plans on doing away with licensing requirements and import restrictions on consumer goods. It was pointed out that the government has already announced its policy of a phasedng up of the consumer goods imports and gradually a large number of consumer goods have been permitted for import through the Special Import Licenses which can be earned by exporters and are freely tradable. Moreng up would take place and the comprehensive Export-Import policy would be announced April 1, 1997, participants were informed.

Vickery expressed his appreciation that the Budget kept Indian's economic reforms on track. Vickery would have liked to see faster progress in removing restrictions on consumer goods imports, but he felt the measures announced in the Budget were encouraging.

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