Five months on, those initial concerns have dissipated as the country’s new leaders have had a chance to lay out their policies. The finance minister Palaniappan Chidambaram scored an immediate hit when he declared: “I consider myself minister for investment” and raised foreign investment limits in telecoms, aviation and insurance. Other key players have a wealth of experience in banking, finance and in introducing reforms. Even Sitaram Yechuri, a member of the politburo of the Communist Party of India (Marxist), on which Congress depends for support, is taking a pragmatic line these days by not opposing foreign investment or privatisation as a matter of course. Below, The Banker profiles India’s movers and shakers and the progress they have made.
Dr Manmohan Singh Prime Minister
