Indian Finance Minister P. Chidambaram asked Japan on Saturday to boost trade and investment in his country to promote greater technology transfers to its rapidly growing economy, a Finance Ministry official said.
Chidambaram said during talks with Finance Minister Sadakazu Tanigaki that India hopes Japanese companies will follow the example of active investment by Toyota Motor Corp. in India, citing the automaker's latest investment in Bangalore, its sixth factory in the country, the official said.
The ministers held talks on the sidelines of a meeting in Washington of the Development Committee, a joint policy-guiding panel of the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund.
Chidambaram hailed design technology of Japanese companies that have taken part in a subway development project in Delhi, adding India hopes to get more Japanese companies to join the project.
He also told Tanigaki his country is inviting more foreign financial institutions to operate in India, including those from Japan. India plans to ease restrictions on the number of foreign financial institutions that can operate there.
Meanwhile, Tanigaki hailed India's high economic growth led by the information technology industry, according to the official.