US-India investment initiative launched ahead of Barack Obama's India visit

WASHINGTON: Ahead of President Barack Obama's visit to India later this month, India and the US have launched an investment initiative to focus on capital market reforms and policy measures that would help spur long-term investment by American investors in India.

Though announced during the White House meeting between Obama and Prime Minister Narendra Modi in September, the India-US Investment Initiative was formally launched here yesterday at Department of Treasury.

An agreement in this regard was signed during a meeting between US Assistant Secretary of Treasury for International Finance Ramin Toloui and Ministry of Finance Additional Secretary Ajay Tyagi.

Through the signing of an arrangement for work under the Initiative today, the US and India agreed to cooperate on facilitating capital market development conducive to financing investment, creating an environment that encourages investment in various sectors in India, and working to overcome any obstacles to such investment, a media release said.

They also met with a group of US portfolio investors and capital market experts that work on India.

The US-India Investment Initiative, announced by Obama and Modi after their meeting, was created to focus on capital market reforms and policy measures that would help spur long-term investment by US investors in India.

"The discussion today focused on potential policy measures that could facilitate US investment in India and deepen India's capital markets," the statement said.

Toloui and Tyagi discussed the importance of continued progress on India's economic reform agenda, which will promote India's growth and job creation, as well as greater US-India economic ties.

Toloui also noted that Treasury looks forward to continued engagement between the US and India on economic issues at the fifth annual US-India Economic and Financial Partnership Dialogue in India on February 12, 2015.