India's momentum will continue, fastest growing economy:CEO of JPMorgan Chase spoke about the outcome of the meeting that took place in the United States between the top US business leaders and Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
Below is the verbatim transcript of the interview:
Q: It was a scheduled meeting for 90 minutes. It has run well over that. What was on the agenda?
A: The Prime Minister, we hope he had a great meeting with the President of United States (Donald Trump) and they make progress on trade and all those things. The agenda was very broad, everyone got a chance to speak up a bit and I think we took a long.
He actually responded to a lot of things that were raised in terms of what can do better for commerce and business, foreign direct investment to lift up the Indian people and any part on the JPMorgan plan, we will be happy to do.
Q: What were the specific issues that you raised with him?
A: First of all they made enormous progresses; the monetisation, the goods and services tax (GST), the bankruptcy code, reducing certain regulations has been great. So India has had manufacturing economies on the planet in the last couple of years and much more responsible fiscal monetary policy and more things will be done. There could be certain certainty and clarity and fairness around tax, the regulatory items, you cannot look at that by industry but those are the things you can do.
Q: Any assurances that he gave on some of the specific issues that were raised by you?
A: He is a very action oriented, detail oriented, he has been getting things done, he is very strong, he is charismatic and so we are quite optimistic about India.
Q: You continue to be bullish on India. You have always been an India bull but given where the Indian markets are and where the Indian economy is, how confident do you feel that the momentum will continue?
A: Very confident. They are doing everything right; the biometrics, the bank accounts, the infrastructure, focusing the issues, being pragmatic, so we are quite optimistic. We have been there since 1945, we have 30,000 employees there and our employees do everything from investment banking to technology and cyber security. We have quite a broad base there.
Q: What is your sense about the meeting between PM Modi and President Trump?
A: Two leaders are going to talk about what they can do to help trade and commerce. We have a common interest in defence, our value systems are common and so I hope they can make a lot of progress.