Goldman holds board meet in India

US-based Goldman Sachs on Thursday held its board meeting in Mumbai, first time in India, sending a signal that the investment banking giant considers the country strategic to its business plans at a time when the bank finds the going tough on the home turf.

The board members, including Chairman and CEO Lloyd Blankfein and COO Gary Cohn, were among those who converged at the Presidential Suite of the iconic Taj Mahal Hotel.

India-born steel tycoon Lakshmi Mittal, who is also on the Goldman Sachs board, attended the meeting.

Though no details were shared with the media, the meeting took place at a time when Goldman Sachs is facing difficult times in the wake of sluggish business in western markets.

The board's India visit is being seen as an exercise in relationship building with the country which continues to grow by 7 per cent.

The bank has good presence in India and would like to strengthen the same as is evident from influential Indian business leaders it reached out in the financial capital Thursday and would be meeting political bigwigs in New Delhi Friday.

Goldman Sachs' investments in India include stakes in ReNew Wind Power and Sigma Electric Manufacturing.

Besides luncheon meetings with several bankers and industrialists, Goldman Sachs hosted dinner at which high profile guests were invited. These include Kumar Mangalam Birla, Rahul Bajaj, Chanda Kochhar, Venugopal Dhoot, Adi Godrej, Gautam Singhania, Noel Tata and Uday Kotak.

Maharashtra Chief Minister Prithviraj Chauhan was among the prominent invitees.

The board also is understood to have met Ratan Tata, Cyrus Mistry and Mukesh Ambani.

Interestingly, Goldman Sachs' Jim O'Neill who recognised for the first time the growing clout of BRIC economies a decade ago.