New Delhi  - UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon said Friday that his discussions with Indian leaders reaffirmed his belief that India was ready to play a greater role on the world stage.

"I was only a year old when India became a UN member state, and it is truly impressive how much this country has achieved since then as a leading voice in the developing world, as a long established democracy and a growing economic power," Ban said at a press briefing.

The secretary general held wide-ranging talks with Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, President Pratibha Patil and Foreign Minister Pranab Mukherjee during his two-day visit.

He said India's contribution had helped to make UN peacekeeping more effective in some of the world's toughest places, including the Democratic Republic of Congo.

His discussions with India's leaders also touched on the global financial crisis and how it would impact developing nations' attempts to meet the UN's Millennium Development Goals, aimed at improving the lot of developing countries.

They also discussed terrorism and India's bid for a permanent Security Council seat in a reorganized United Nations, diplomatic officials said.

Ban's trip to New Delhi is part of a three-nation tour that is also to take him to Nepal and Bangladesh.

Ban was scheduled to meet Nepali Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal, the former Maoist guerilla leader also known as Prachanda, later Friday. (dpa)