India's economic future under threat after Mumbai terror strikes: Experts
29 Nov 2008, 1603 Hrs

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New Delhi, Nov.29 The terrorist siege in Mumbai is likely to threaten India's economic future, economists and investors said.

India's economy had already been slowing significantly, because of the global credit crunch and the rupee's decline, they told the New York Times, adding that in the wake of the attack, foreign investors and business executives would be even more cautious about investing in India, at least in the short term.

"Of course there will be some setbacks" related to the attacks, the paper quoted Hitesh Kuvelkar, an Associate Director at First Global, a financial research firm.

Kamal Nath, India's Commerce and Industry Minister, said in a telephone interview that he did not expect the attacks to have any lasting effect on the Indian economy, because, he argued, international investors have accepted that there is some risk of terrorism almost anywhere.

"Tourists tend to be fickle and nervous," said Matthew Brooks, the head of industry analysis at Business Monitor International, a research firm that specializes in emerging markets.

"If you have a situation where terrorism becomes endemic, that's a more serious problem," Brooks added.

"We are going to reassure people that this is an absolute exception and not the rule," Nath said.

"It's not something that's taken lightly by the government," he concluded. (ANI)