NEW DELHI, Nov 22: US Treasury Secretary Paul O’Neill urged India on Friday to lower tariffs, roll back regulation and fight corruption to boost economic growth.

“To unleash the potential for higher living standards and job creation, a nation’s leaders must make an unflinching commitment to good governance, economic freedom and investment in people,” he said in a blunt analysis of India’s economic performance.

“Without these principles in effect, even a people as capable and aspiring as the Indian people cannot succeed,” O’Neill told business executives here.

He was in the Indian capital for an annual summit of finance ministers and central bank chiefs from the Group of 20 nations whose agenda includes boosting global trade, combating financial crises and cutting off funds for terrorism.

O’Neill is on a week-long trip that has taken him through Afghanistan, Pakistan and India. On Thursday, he said he wanted to pursue freer trade among the three southwest Asian countries.

O’Neill said India’s tariffs are on average more than three times higher than those of many other Asian economies and that other “hidden” barriers also block trade.

“Just as Canada and Mexico are the largest trading partners of the US, India’s trade with its closest neighbours should be equally strong,” he said.

He tempered some of his remarks by saying India has begun moving toward a market economy but suggested it had much to do.

“Economic freedom has not yet sprouted in many major industries where the government remains deeply involved in production, which limits competition,” O’Neill said.—AFP