The finance minister of India, Pranab Mukherjee, said he offers “no assurance” that India will support French finance minister Christine Lagarde in her bid to become the head of the IMF.

Lagarde met Mukherjee and India's Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in Delhi as part of her tour to gain support for her bid within emerging economies.

“India wants the election of the managing director of IMF to be on the basis of merit and competence and to be held in a transparent manner and not on any particular nationality, Mukherjee said.

Lagarde noted: “We had an excellent meeting and we were able to review quite a few issues concerning the current status of the Indian economy as well as my own perspective to the candidacy for the post of managing director of the IMF.”

Lagarde, who is competing against Mexico's central bank head Agustin Carstens, visited Brazil on Monday and is scheduled to fly to China next to drum up votes.