Mumbai: US Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, who is on a tour to rally support against Iran, met RBI Governor Shaktikanta Das and business leaders in the financial capital Saturday.
While the exact topics of discussion at the engagements were not immediately known, a central bank statement said the visiting official discussed ‘global and domestic macro-economic scenario in both countries and regulatory developments’ with the RBI governor.
In a tweet, Mnuchin said he discussed issues related to the ‘monetary policy and the financial sector’ with Das.
Mnuchin also had a luncheon meet with top officials of National Investment and Infrastructure Fund (NIIF), the Indian government-promoted vehicle to support infrastructure investments that has received support from a slew of sovereign wealth funds already.
From his Twitter handle, Mnuchin said he discussed both US and India’s ‘mutual interests in promoting investments’ with NIIF brass.
He also paid homage to the victims of the 26/11 terror attacks in the city in November 2008, by laying a wreath at south Mumbai’s Taj Hotel, one of the sites of the attacks that had claimed 166 lives.
He was accompanied by US Ambassador to India Kenneth Juster and Consul General in Mumbai David J Ranz, in all the engagements, a US government spokesperson said.
He also had a roundtable meet with business leaders Anand Mahindra, Harsh Goenka and Adi Godrej, who head multibillion corporations each, the spokesperson said.
Mnuchin left the city in the evening, the spokesperson said. He had come to the financial capital from New Delhi, where he had met Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman.
It can be noted that India has had difficulties paying Iran for oil imports during previous rounds of sanctions led by the US, and the RBI had played an important role for solutions in the same.
The US has been peeved at Iran for pursuing a nuclear programme which it fears is being dictated by what it calls as a terror outfit, due to which it has imposed sanctions against Tehran.
It has been asking other nations to support it against Iran for the same. According to reports, India has stopped crude oil imports from Iran as a result of the sanctions earlier this year.
(PTI)