India, US will gain from each other's growth: Jacob

Mumbai: Stating that India and the US are two important drivers of global growth, American Treasury Secretary Jacob J Lew on Wednesday said that both the countries will benefit from each other's growth.

"The growth we are experiencing in the US is good for India, just as growth in India is good for the US. And, India and the US are two important drivers of global growth," Lew told the business leaders on his maiden visit. Earlier in the day he had a closed-door meeting with the Reserve Bank.

He was addressing the heads of corporate India at a CII organised Indo-US Business Council round-table here, Lew, who is on way to attend the fifth Indo-US economic and financial partnership meeting in the national capital tomorrow.

The comments come two days after the official data showed that India has become the fastest growing major economy in the world overtaking China two years ahead of schedule.

The domestic economy clipped at 7.5 percent in the December quarter 20 bps above the Chinese growth rate and the economy is on course to close at 7.4 percent for the current fiscal. The faster growth rates have come after the government adopted a new base year and changed the way data prints are read.

Those present at today's meeting included Adi Godrej, Anil Ambani of the Reliance Group, M&M's Anand Mahindra, Sanjay Nayar of KKR, IDFC's Rajiv Lall and Swati Piramal of the Pirmal group.

The newly-appointed US envoy to New Delhi Richard Verma and the US counsel general in Mumbai Thomas Vajda were also present.

Lew noted that the US economy has created over 11 million jobs over the past five years, and last year alone, American private sector businesses created nearly 3 million jobs, pulling down the unemployment rate to 5.7 percent.

"Our overall growth has been supported by increases in household wealth, a gradually improving housing market, a growing manufacturing sector, and a flourishing auto industry," he said, adding on the back of better-than expected growth in the second and third quarters last year, and many forecasters project above-trend growth to continue.

Without referring to the successful visit of the US president Barack Obama last month, wherein both the countries resolved the contentious clauses in the nuclear liability laws and sealed the deal, he said India and the US have an important partnership and share both strong economic ties and personal rapport between the peoples of our two nations.

He also noted that bilateral trade is at a record high at close to USD 100 billion.

Terming the fifth Indo-US economic and financial partnership meeting tomorrow as "very important", he said this dialogue is an important vehicle for bilateral engagement with India on a range of economic policy issues.

He also extended support to the country's growth and reform efforts and encourage greater opening of the economy to the US firms.

"I hope we can work together to deepen capital markets to unlock domestic resources and welcome foreign investment into India; strengthen financial regulatory reform; improve our coordination on tax issues; and combat money laundering and terrorist financing.

"Together we can do more to help ensure shared growth, promote job creation, and strengthen demand. These all will be important topics discussed during my visit, and beyond," Lew said.