Agustin Carstens visiting India to seek support for IMF chief bid

NEW DELHI: Mexican central bank governor Agustin Carstens will arrive in New Delhi on Friday to drum up support for his candidature for the IMF chief post, amid India's non-committal stand on support for any prospective candidates.

Carstens' visit comes against the backdrop of India refraining from committing support for the front-runner -- French finance minister Christine Lagarde, who came calling to the national capital on Tuesday.

A prominent non-European candidate, Carstens would be visiting India on Friday (June 10) as part of campaign seeking support for his candidature to become the International Monetary Fund's next Managing Director.

Traditionally, the multilateral lending agency's chief has always been a European.

Regarding the candidature of Carstens, finance minister Pranab Mukherjee had said that he "is a competent person. We are also in discussions with them".

52-year-old Carstens had earlier served as Mexico's Finance Minister. He is also a member of Steering Committee of the G-20 Financial Stability Board ( FSB).

On Tuesday, after meeting Lagarde, Mukherjee indicated there was no assurance on supporting her bid. "We are working on a consensus," he had said.

However, a consensus is yet to be reached on any candidate from the BRICS bloc (Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa).

"It would be difficult to say at this moment because there was divergence of views in respect of South African candidature. So, it is not possible to say whether there will be a common candidate or not (among BRICS nations)", Mukherjee said.

The post of IMF chief fell vacant after the ignominious departure of Dominique Strauss-Kahn in the wake of sexual assault charges against him.

On her visit to garner support for her IMF chief bid, Lagarde had also met Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Planning Commission Deputy Chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia.