Nov. 16 – China will explore the possibility of setting up a dedicated India infrastructure development fund to strengthen its economic and trade ties with the country, a top official of The People’s Bank of China told the Indian newspaper Financial Chronicle in an interview.

Referring to the proposal for a dedicated India fund, Ma Delun, deputy governor of the Chinese central bank said, “As central bank of China, we will support anything that is facilitating economic and financial cooperation between India and China.”

China-India trade is expected to reach US$60 billion in 2010.

“Although we have the market demand and opportunity of cooperation, all participating parties should decide (on the proposed fund) after they evaluate the risk, returns and considering other businesses,” Ma told the paper.

Ma, who was on a week-long visit to New Delhi and Mumbai leading an 18-member delegation of Chinese bankers, regulators and industry representatives, also said that China would deepen and broaden exchange rate reforms ahead of aggressively pursuing its move to make yuan an international currency.

The Chinese government aims to move away from artificially fixing the exchange rate towards making the yuan fully convertible in time-bound manner.