Union Home Minister P Chidambaram visited the headquarters of the Intelligence Bureau on Monday.

There he had a meeting with top officials to have an in-depth idea about information gathering network.

The hour-long meeting was attended by IB chief P C Halder and others.

Chidambaram was briefed about various wings of IB, their functioning and the chain of informants.

The new Home Minister's visit to the IB headquarters assumes significance as it reflected his seriousness in strengthening the intelligence gathering mechanism at the Centre and the state levels.

New Delhi, Dec. 1 : P Chidambaram took charge as the country’s new Home Minister on Monday after Shivraj Patil resigned from the post owning responsibility for Mumbai terror attacks last week.

The Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh will look after the finance ministry.

Udaipur (Rajasthan), Nov 28 : Finance Minister P. Chidambaram on Friday said that the Indian markets are capable of withstanding the effect of the coordinated militant attacks in Mumbai.

Chidambaram''s statement in Udiapur came even as the commandos were still battling heavily armed militants holed up in Mumbai''s luxury hotels along with hostages for more than 40 hours.

Chidambaram said that India continues to be an attractive investment destination and it would be able to convince the investors.

The Finance Minister P Chidambaram, speaking at the Economic Editors' Conference stated that despite the global meltdown, India, unlike many other global economies, would continue to grow at seven to eight per cent this fiscal. It was nowhere near a recession.

New Delhi, Nov. 24 : Union Finance Minister P. Chidambaram on Monday said that India must be prepared for a temporary slowdown in its economy because of the global financial meltdown, but added that the country and its people have the courage and the strength to overcome it.