Unfazed by Satyam fraud, Britain hails India success story

NEW DELHI - Unfazed by the mammoth fraud in Indian IT bellwether Satyam, Britain Tuesday hailed India as a ’success story’, saying one rotten apple does not soil the whole barrel, even as an optimistic New Delhi urged the international community ‘not to press the panic button’.

‘India’s economic growth is based in strong fundamentals and a zeal for reforms. Just because one apple is rotten does not mean that the whole barrel is spoilt,’ British Foreign Secretary David Miliband told reporters when asked about the fallout of the fraud in Satyam, India’s fourth largest IT firm, on the country’s attractiveness to foreign investors.

‘I am sure Indian authorities will deal with it appropriately. There is a lesson to be learnt in this case. Indian laws need to be implemented in the best possible way in this case,’ Miliband, who began his four-day visit to India Tuesday, said at a joint press conference with his Indian counterpart Pranab Mukherjee.

The Rs.70 billion fraud detected in Satyam Computer Services has created international headlines with many international experts raising questions about rules of corporate governance in the country and India’s attractiveness as the world’s IT hub.

Unfazed by these disclosures, Miliband hailed India as a ’success story’ that has become ‘a beacon to the world’.

‘We see India as the success story of this region both politically and economically, a success story which has become a beacon to the world,’ Miliband maintained.

‘Two years ago I had said that the partnership between India and the UK has been a partnership of equals,’ he said while stressing that the Indian investment in Britain has surpassed that of British investment in India.

Mukherjee also allayed apprehensions about the impact of the economic meltdown on India and the fallout of the Satyam fraud. ‘We expect to maintain economic growth of 7 to 7.5 percent this fiscal on the basis of our domestic savings and investments and will overcome the meltdown,’ Mukherjee contended.

‘There is no need to press the panic button,’ Mukherjee, one of seniormost ministers in the Manmohan Singh government, underlined.

The two ministers also discussed in detail the reform of international financial institutions and the ongoing global economic crisis. London will host the G20 summit on the world’s most advanced countries in April, Miliband announced.

‘The G20 has broken the stranglehold of G8 on economic debate in the world, Miliband said.

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh was among world leaders who attended the G20 summit in Washington in November that focused on evolving collective international response to the global financial meltdown.