New Delhi, Nov 28: Asking European businessmen to shed their old image of India, External Affairs Minister Yashwant Sinha today said things have changed here and it is "now a happening place" opening bright prospects for a partnership with a "new India". "Things have changed. Things have to change further," Sinha told the fourth India-EU Business Summit, stressing "if you are smart", advantage could be taken of the immense opportunities that exist.

The minister's remarks came after the European commissioner for external relations Chris Patten observed that India "retains the reputation of a hard country in which to do business".

Patten said, "excessive red-tape, poor infrastructure and rigid labour laws are the constraints most commonly cited by the EU business" while contending that though Indian import tariffs have substantially decreased following the economic reforms programme, "they are still high by international standards". Sinha said, "we are looking at partnership between a new Europe and a new India" while observing that New Delhi looked at EU not merely as a group of nations but as one of the largest markets of the world. Bureau Report