Ravi said he was happy with the successful outcome of the second PBD held in Singapore. “This conference, where the topmost people from the Singapore Government participated — the Minister Mentor, Senior Ministers, the Prime Minister and the Deputy Prime Minister — has sent a strong message. It has opened the new emerging India to this part of the world and sent the signal that India will always be an attractive destination for foreign investments.”

Ravi said even though India was not insulated from the shadow of the global financial crisis, which he said was due to excessive forward trading, India had the strength to isolate itself from it to a certain extent. “Our banks have not collapsed and none of our financial institutions have a problem,” he said.

When the collapse of the capital market was pointed out to him, the minister said, “I’ve always held that they often behave like glorified casinos.” The next PBD would be held in Chennai in January 2009.