For once, it was not Pranab Mukherjee in the firing line. At a joint press conference with UK chancellor George Osborne, ostensibly about the UK-India relationship, Mr Mukherjee adroitly avoided any mention of the dread word Murdoch, despite a pointed question, even as his British counterpart was on the backfoot about his dinners with Mr Murdoch, his economic policies, and his differences with business secretary Vince Cable.
Ostensibly, the conference was to highlight over £1 billion of UK-India deals since David Cameron's visit to India last year and some head-nodding about the uncertain state of the global economy and the risks it faces. But the headline deals mentioned include BP-Reliance and Essar Energy's buyout of Shell's Stanlow refinery, all of which are old hat. So both ministers were in the unenviable position of fielding scam and corruption-tainted queries from their respective media contingents — as Mr Osborne remarked to Mr Mukherjee at the start — "I told you we wouldn't get any questions on the UK-India relationship." Denying the perception that the Indian government is in a decision-making paralysis, the finance minister pointed out that in the past three months, FDI proposals into India were at $7.9 billion, almost double that in the same time last year. "It shows that international investors have confidence in India," he said, never mind any number of scams. George Osborne, who faces the prospect of either a shrinkage or a further flatlining in the quarterly UK GDP figures due out Tuesday, defended his coalition's policies, and said he was sticking to his austerity measures, despite business secretary Vince Cable openly calling for further stimulus. That is, when he was not defending his meetings with the Murdochs.Mr Mukherjee also said that the Indian government will have to take drastic action to bring down fiscal deficit from the 2010-11 levels of 4.7% in the next couple of years.
British FM George Osborne with Indian FM Pranab Mukherjee in London on Monday
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