World Inc can't afford to ignore India: FM

DAVOS: The curtains may have come down on the World Economic Forum's annual meeting, but India's message to high-profile business leaders at the meet is still reverberating loud and clear -- you simply cannot ignore Asia's third largest economy.

"The message we are sending is that India is a fast growing economy, which presents enormous opportunities to countries as well as business community. To foreign investors, the message is -- you can't afford not to invest in India," Finance Minister P Chidambaram, who led the Indian delegation to the WEF, said in an interview here.

"You can't afford not to engage India.... you can't afford not to have a trade agreement or work with India in a multi-lateral fora... India is on the move and you can't ignore us," he said.

Apart from addressing WEF on various topics including global economic imbalances, Free Trade Agreements in Asia, India's manufacturing competitiveness and fast growing potential, Chidambaram had a tightly-packed schedule with meetings with top government officials of other nations, CEOs
of global corporations and banks.

There was also a lesson to India, he said emphasising "other countries like China are stepping on the accelerator. Therefore, we need to move at a similar pace. Everybody recognised that we are aiming at the right direction." he said

He also stressed on need for faster reforms, speedy infrastructure development and higher investment in farm sector to push up growth to 10 per cent.