The Hindu Business Line : ‘Branch licensing cannot be reduced to quid pro quo’

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‘Branch licensing cannot be reduced to quid pro quo’

Mr Henry Paulson

Our Bureau

Mumbai, Oct. 30 The US Treasury Secretary, Mr Henry M. Paulson, said his country is not keen on making market access for banks as a matter of bilateral quid pro quo in trade negotiations.

He made this observation in the course of interaction with select media personnel here.

Responding to the question about the difficulty that Indian banks encountered in obtaining regulatory clearances in the US for opening branches even as foreign banks have been more successful in doing so in India, he said, the US regulator is an autonomous organisation and functions in a transparent manner with a set of standards. He noted that India is making progress in fulfilling regulatory requirements and referred to ICICI Bank having successfully completed the norms for opening a branch in the US.

Successes in such sectors as aviation and telecom which saw dramatic opening up of the market suggested that India could gain from such deregulation in the financial sector as well, he added.

Flexible approach

Answering another question on whether country-specific emission norms ought not to take into account the low per capita emission in Third World countries such as India, he said that he is not in favour of any ‘one size fits all’ kind of approach in setting emission norms as part of global initiative on climate control.

There is a need for a flexible approach to collectively combat global warming. Part of such a strategy would be in adoption of ‘cleaner’ and modern technology in processes that contribute to global warming wherever such technology is available.

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