Kamal Nath takes a dig at US financial crisis

New Delhi, Sept 17 : Commerce and Industry Minister Kamal Nath has said that the country is not impacted by the US financial crisis.

The US credit crisis worsened on Monday after the 158-year-old Lehman Brothers filed for bankruptcy protection.

Nath added that Indian markets were strong enough to overcome the US crisis.

"The US financial system is facing deep crisis and this is obviously going to impact Europe. The fact is that this is happening in United States. We are not been impacted by it. I think United States will have to ensure that their financial system comes again in the same orbit as the economy," he said on the sidelines of a meeting with the Export Promotion Council for EoUs and SEZs here.

India's central bank on Tuesday said it had directed Lehman Brothers' Indian primary dealership not to undertake transactions in government securities as a dealer in the primary market.

Lehman Brothers Fixed Income Securities had also been advised not to declare any interim dividend or remit any amount to its holding company or any other group company without the central bank's prior approval, the Reserve Bank of India said in a statement issued late in the evening.

It said Lehman Brothers Capital, a non-banking financial company, would need prior approval from the central bank before contracting any direct or indirect liability from any institution in India or abroad or making any foreign currency remittance.

ANI