FM to visit Asian, European nations to improve fund flows

New Delhi: In a bid to improve foreign fund flows to the country, Finance Minister P Chidambaram is likely to visit some Asian and European nations later this month to meet global investors and strengthen their confidence in the Indian economy.

Chidambaram is likely to start his tour with a visit to Hong Kong on January 22 and Singapore the next day, according to sources.

The Minister will be accompanied by Economic Affairs Secretary Arvind Mayaram and other ministry officials, sources added.

Chidambaram is also likely to visit London and Frankfurt.

The minister's tour assumes significance in view of the present state of economy which is likely to grow at decade low rate of below 6 percent in 2012-13.

The country's economy recorded nine-year low economic growth rate of 6.5 percent in 2011-12 and expanded by 5.4 percent in first half (April-September) of this fiscal.

One prominent issue facing the government is the surging current account deficit (CAD). According to latest figures, CAD, which is the difference between exports and imports after taking into account remittances and other payments, was 5.4 percent of GDP in July-September quarter of 2012-13.

The government hopes that there would be sufficient fund flows to the country to finance the CAD without digging into foreign exchange reserves.

PTI