‘Lobbying and bribery are two very different things...These disclosures (by Walmart) are for expenses in the US’

Tell me something about what you said just now, 'a rebalanced Asia'.

There are a number of factors. One is recognising the growing economies of India and China, but also of Japan. You have the tigers coming out, Vietnam, Thailand and Indonesia. We look at the Middle East as an area we need to work. 'Rebalance' is to recognise the growing importance of Asia to the US in the 21st century. It also has security implications. There are number of places where potential conflicts could erupt and we need to work at ways in which the US could work in partnership with Asian countries to participate in creating institutional frameworks.

When I asked if the notion of the American threat has declined, you said at the official level there was change for the better, and…?

...and the public as well. Occasionally we are put up for political purposes. I think that happens to any super power. India sees itself in that role sometimes from its smaller neighbours. Look at the people-to-people relations. The number of tourists who are going, the visa applications, the number of students and families going back and forth. I think that these ties are the base of all of our relations and they put light to some of the propaganda.

How do you look at this? Either somebody says let us discover the nuclear moment. The other way of looking at it is, let us search for the 'Enron moment' in the relationship. Do you worry that Walmart could be the new 'Enron moment'? Because Enron gave US business a bad name.

We want to see American businesses as good corporate citizens in India. We will continue to work with our companies and with the Indian government to make sure that they are good corporate citizens. But, ultimately, FDI in retail is about consumers making their choice.

... contd.

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