NEW YORK: The current turmoil in the global financial markets, triggered by events on Wall Street, will not drag down India's healthy growth rate or impact the huge investments it is attracting, Indian Minister of State for Commerce and Industry Ashwani Kumar has said.
"Our economy's fundamentals are resilient and returns on investment in India are much better than what other countries can offer. We have a 400 million-strong middle class with purchasing power matching that of the middle class in Europe," the minister said at the Indian consulate here on Tuesday while interacting with community leaders and the press.
While agreeing that since 70 percent of India's exports are to the US, India cannot remain unaffected by what happens there, Kumar said the US economy, largest in the world, is also resilient and dynamic and will overcome the current crisis on Wall Street, which is just a cyclical or temporary aberration.
"India and the US will continue to engage with each other economically, and the growing bilateral trade is expected to touch $50 billion in 2009," he said.
Kumar, who is in the US to deliver a series of lectures at Harvard University, is staying on for part of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's visit later this month.
He expressed the hope that the India-US nuclear agreement will be cleared by Congress by the time Manmohan Singh holds summit meeting with President George W. Bush Sep 25 in Washington, DC.
