India and Britain held the Fifth Ministerial level India-UK Economic Financial Dialogue

India and Britain held the fifth ministerial level India-UK economic financial dialogue in New Delhi on 2 April 2012. Both nations discussed ways to strengthen their mutual cooperation and further boost trade and investment between them. Highlights of the dialogue are as following:
• Both nations agreed that while the global economy has stabilized in recent months, growth will remain subdued and at risk from a series of threats.
• India and Britain welcomed the exchange of ideas in financing infrastructure as part of the Dialogue, noting that both countries share a common aim of increasing the role of institutional investors in infrastructure financing.
• India and Britain also discussed the importance of developing deep and efficient capital markets to support infrastructure financing in India. Foreign capital can play an important part in this process.
• Both nations supported the progress on the Reserve Bank of India’s (RBI) roadmap for foreign banks in India.
• Both sides agreed that there was a clear benefit to sharing experiences on this and welcomed the ongoing technical collaboration to assist the FSLRC (Financial Sector Legislative Reforms Commission) in carrying out its mandate.
• Both sides welcomed the Cannes Action Plan for Growth and Jobs agreed at the November 2011 Cannes Summit.
• Both nations are committed to ensuring that the IMF is adequately resourced to play its systemic role in the international financial system in support of its entire membership and that the quota and governance reforms of the IMF are implemented within the agreed timelines.
• Both sides agreed to remain committed to pursuing the financial regulatory reform agenda according to the time table agreed in G-20 in an internationally consistent and non-discriminatory manner. This will be monitored by the Financial Stability Board through its Coordination Framework for Implementation Monitoring. Both sides discussed the joint approaches to meeting these commitments and will continue to work together to strengthen the global financial system.
• Both sides recognized the need for countries to sign the Multilateral Convention on Mutual Administrative Assistance in Tax Matters and engage in automatic exchange of information where legally required to improve tax compliance and decrease tax evasion.
• Recognising the importance of open trade for the global economy, India and UK reaffirmed their commitment to refrain from protectionism.
• India and the UK welcomed the 40% year on year increase in the export of goods from the UK to India and the increase by 35.05% of exports from India to UK in 2011.