'Stop Protectionism' will be India's line at G-20 Summit

New Delhi, Mar.18 (ANI): 'Stop Protectionism' will be the India's advice to the developed world during next month's G-20 Summit in London.

According to sources in the government, India is likely to pitch against the protectionist policies adopted by Europe in general and US in particular in the wake of the economic crisis.

India has been highly critical of the US Congress's latest move in curbing the issue of H1B visas, which is likely to affect the job prospects of thousands of Indian professionals.

New Delhi is also seeing Obama's recent pledge to withdraw tax breaks for US companies that shipped jobs abroad as a serious protectionist measure.

These underlying issues are likely to figure when Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh will have his first interaction with President Obama on the sidelines of the G-20 Summit.

India is also likely to exert pressure on rich countries to reform international monetary institutions. According to sources, India will be pushing to increase the membership of the International monetary Fund (IMF) to ensure a rebalancing of the world financial order.

The protectionist moves by the West are being seen by government mandarins as a big challenge for India.

"If they need our market, they have to open their markets for us," said one source.

"Nobody knows how bad the recession will be and western countries can ill afford to serve there narrow interests," he added.

India also took part and shared the dais with the world 's richest economies in November at Washington last year when the first G-20 meeting was called.

New Delhi, which is hailed by the US and western economies for its firefighting efforts and consistently generating high growth even during the current meltdown, is being involved in the group talks. By Naveen Kapoor (ANI)