Timothy Geithner, Secretary, US Department of the Treasury and Ben Bernanke, Chairman, Federal Reserve Board interacted with the Captains of Indian Industry at a meeting organised by the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) in Mumbai. The visiting dignitaries discussed ways in which the United States and India can deepen bilateral economic engagement, in order to expand opportunities for American and Indian businesses and workers. Their conversation focused on India's ongoing reform process, and ways the two economies can lower barriers to trade and investment in order to facilitate stronger growth and create jobs. Secretary Geithner also discussed the important and growing contribution Indian foreign direct investment is making to job creation in the United States.

In his welcome address, Adi Godrej, President, CII and Chairman, the Godrej Group, sounded upbeat about the India story saying;"the fundamentals are strong, the consumption led growth story is intact and we are moving towards reforms." This has taken some time, but the direction is right, he added. Speaking on bilateral partnerships, Mr Godrej observed that there is considerable potential in areas like healthcare, clean energy, defense, entrepreneurship, agriculture, and education.

Besides Mr Godrej, participants included Chandrajit Banerjee, Director General of CII and host of the meeting; Deepak Parekh, Chairman, Housing Development Finance Corporation; Chanda Kochhar, Managing Director and CEO, ICICI Bank; Uday Kotak, Executive Vice Chairman and Managing Director, Kotak Mahindra Bank; Hari Bhartia, Co-Chairman and Managing Director, Jubilant Life Sciences; Venu Srinivasan, Chairman and Managing Director, TVS Motor Company; Rajiv Lall, Vice Chairman and Managing Director, Infrastructure Development Finance Company and Ishaat Hussain, Director - Finance, Tata Sons.