Comparison of India-China economies irrelevant: Chidambaram

Courting investment from Hong Kong, home for China's top investors, Finance Minister P Chidambaram on Tuesday rejected any comparison between the economies of India and China, saying it is irrelevant as they faced radically different problems.

"They (China) are facing different problems. They are revenue surplus country. They have got current account surplus. They got huge foreign exchange reserves ($3.31 trillion)," Chidambaram said in an interview.

He was responding to a question about comparisons between the economies of the two countries after addressing an investors' meeting here.

"China is able to invest all over the world in oils, coal and metals. Their problems are of different kind" while India faced different problems, Chidambaram said.

"We face current account deficit. We have to finance the current deficit in foreign currency. We are, therefore, very dependent on foreign inflows, both FDI and FII, and external commercial borrowing," he said.

"I don't think we should be comparing China and India situation. The comparison is not very relevant. We need to acknowledge our problems. We need to show determination to counter our problems. We need to signal that we are determined to stay the course," he said.

About the drop of FDI inflows to China, Chidambaram said: "China is no longer dependent on FDI. China is a capital exporting country. China has huge reserves. I don't think China's situation with FDI compares with India situation," he said.

Though FDI levels are coming down in China, it still got over $100 billion foreign investment last year.

Asked whether he has any plans to visit China to scout for investment, Chidambaram said: "I have no plans to visit China now."

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