India has borne economic crisis well: PM

ON BOARD PM'S SPECIAL AIRCRAFT: India has not remained unaffected by the global economic crisis but has "borne" it well, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said on Wednesday.

Returning home after attending the summits of Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) and Brazil-Russia-India-China (BRIC), where the global financial crisis was the main theme, Singh said there was a need for reforming the present systems of global governance and international financial system.

He hoped the BRIC would not remain a "talk-shop" and the member countries would work together so that their voice is heard in the global arena.

"We live in times of rapid economic changes when the BRIC economies are a factor of stability and growth," Singh told accompanying journalists while returning from Yekaterinburg in Russia.

"India has borne the global economic crisis well, though we have not been unaffected," he said.

Talking about the BRIC Summit, he said the leaders discussed the need to intensify cooperation among the four nations and international economic downturn and how to prepare for the forthcoming G-8 and G-20 Summits.

To a question, he said, "We (BRIC nations) are responsible for 40 per cent of the world GDP and if all the (member) nations join together, I think our voice will be heard in the global councils."