• PAGE ONE
• INDEX
• HOME

USIBC blueprint for financial sector

Our Bureau

NEW DELHI, June 18

THE country's financial sector has to become world class if it has to achieve the status of a world class economy. The US-India commercial dialogue on financial services held under the aegis of US-India Business Council in San Francisco has mooted an eig ht point strategy towards this endeavour.

These include:

Full right of companies to establish commercial presence to operate freely and to have no artificial caps on ownership;

Full right of national treatment;

Removal of restrictions on cross-border trade and on the free movement of personnel;

A transparent, legal, administrative and regulatory regime enforced by independent and professional regulators;

Transparent, limited and temporary exceptions to GATT commitments;

Full MFN treatment;

The facilitation of electronic commerce as a means of delivering financial services.

The meeting highlighted that in the process of upgrading the country's financial services sector, there needed to be a greater degree of predictability of regulatory oversight and uniformity in administrative decision-making in areas such as tax administ ration and financial auditing.

According to a press release, the participants also expressed their support for more frequent and broader pattern of consultation between the Government of India and the business community.