India has called for renewed efforts for greater integration of the global financial system to foster better trading relations among countries, enabling faster expansion of their economies.
“What is important is to create a financial architecture, which facilitates flow of capital from one country to another. The architecture will facilitate savings, which leads to investments, which leads to growth, which will facilitate further expansion. With the right regulation, this will lead to the same cycle growth and ensure that growth takes place and does not get hindered, “ Suresh Prabhu, Union Commerce and Industry Minister said.
He was inaugurating the three-day India-US Symposium on “Building the Financial System of the 21stCentury: An Agenda for India and the United States”, here on Thursday.
Pointing out that one is living in very testing and challenging times, Prabhu told the gathering, which included Michael Kaplan, Deputy Assistant Secretary, Western Hemisphere & South East Asia, US Treasury, and some other senior officials of the US Administration, “a very interesting aspect of financial integration, which most countries who are currently in the process of accomplishing, definitely understand, is that, the more we will expand, the more benefits we stand to gain.”
The symposium organised by Harvard’s Program of International Financial Systems (PIFS) in partnership with NITI Aayog, the National Institute of Public Finance and Policy (NIPFP) and PLR Chambers, was attended by more than 110 leaders and participants from the world of finance, academics, law, government and regulators.
Citing that that there are innumerable examples of integration which has fostered expansion, which in turn has brought about higher growth rates, Prabhu said post-2008 economic crisis people started asking questions about how well the economic and financial regulatory model works, and whether crisis like it will happen again in the future.
Prabhu said there were a lot of benefits to be derived from this financial integration. "Therefore,, we must have open markets to understand how economies can benefit each other, from this interdependence".
Prabhu also said he would soon be flying down to Washington DC to meet the US Commerce Secretary and the trade representatives in the US to have a discussion on trade and commerce related issues.
In line with the theme of the symposium, the India steering committee has identified four key issues for deliberation at this year’s symposium. These are regulation & de-regulation of financial markets in context of the global reform agenda; the evolving landscape for infrastructure funding in India; financial inclusion and the role of Fintech, and the future of India's financial markets in today’s fluid and sometimes uncertain world.