Financial services to be opened up: PM

$150 bn investment needed; Best of reforms yet to come.

Making an all-out attempt to woo US investors, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh promised that the UPA government would take "hard" decisions to free the economy from bureaucratic controls and further open up the financial services sector to attract more foreign investment.

He also assured them that compulsions of coalition politics and Left support would not derail reforms.

The first Indian prime minister to address the New York Stock Exchange, Singh said India needed $150 billion investment on a conservative estimate for the next few years for a "quantum leap" in the infrastructure sector, over which he claimed there was maximum "political consensus".

"India needs America's support and active involvement in realising its dream (of faster economic growth and poverty eradication)," he told captains of American industry, representing a cross-section of 17 companies which account for $1 trillion in assets.

Singh said the country needed foreign investment, both direct and institutional, for attracting $150 billion in infrastructure in the next 4-5 years.

Singh said there was a need to expand the role of the financial services sector since the savings rate in the economy was expected to increase.

Promising that his government would work towards developing attractive public-private partnerships and investment opportunities in infrastructure, Singh said he himself headed a committee on infrastructure to eliminate policy bottlenecks.

"Effective international business planning necessitates an India strategy. There is an Indian story which must be a part of every company's story," he said.

The government will ensure that bureaucratic processes do not pose hurdles to adventure and enterprise. "Bureaucracy is like a horse which can be taken to any direction. It depends on the jockey," he said.

The prime minister said there was enough scope in Indian engineering, manufacturing and financial enterprises. Among the other areas that provided opportunity, Singh listed information technology and related industries such as software and business process outsourcing.

Singh said during the 1990s India's GDP growth was more robust with industry clocking 12-13 per cent growth and exports 20 per cent. "It is our ambition to do better than what we have done so far...We have come a long way but the best is yet to come," he said.

Stressing on "two-way" flow of trade, investment and technology, the Prime Minister said the country should move on to a new stage of development and integrate with the global economy.

"India needs large doses of investment both FDI and FII. It commits us to strengthen the capital market with a strong, fair and transparent regulatory regime," he said.

Indicating "winds of change" in the mindset of the Left, Singh indirectly referred to West Bengal where the Communist parties in power were inviting more foreign investment. He said the UPA government believed in the process of discussion and debate for carrying forward reforms.