Clinton arrives in India, to meet feisty state chief

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton arrived in Kolkata on Sunday on a three-day trip to the nation.                      

The United States will seek assurances that India will reduce its purchases of oil from sanctions-hit Iran during Clinton visit to the South Asian giant this week, a senior U.S. official said on Sunday.                       

The trip coincides with a visit by a large Iranian trade delegation, as India walks a tightrope of strengthening ties with ally the United States and sating its fast-growing energy needs.                       
During her visit, Clinton will also make the case for the country to open its supermarket sector to foreign chains such as U.S. giant Wal-Mart Stores - a major economic reform that has stalled under Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's government.                     

Clinton is due to meets it most powerful critic, Mamata Banerjee, the fiery chief minister of the eastern West Bengal, who had blocked the government's push for retail liberalization last year.                    
Indian officials in New Delhi said retail reform – an issue of enormous interest to U.S. and other foreign investors - could be discussed but did not elaborate.                        

U.S. officials declined to comment on the meeting.        

Listed in Time Magazine as one of the world's 100 most influential people, Banerjee rose from a poor teacher's family to oust the longest-serving democratically elected communist government from her state of 90 million last year.                        

From Kolkata, Clinton will travel to New Delhi on Monday to meet Singh. Afghanistan and India's controversial proposals on retroactive taxation are likely talking points, Indian sources told Reuters last week.        

Reuters