NEW DELHI - French finance minister Christine Lagarde will begin her India trip on Tuesday and meet finance minister Pranab Mukherjee and other top officials to court New Delhi's support for the top job at the International Monetary Fund (IMF), reported local daily The Times of India electronic edition Tuesday.

The post fell vacant as former IMF chief Domique StraussKahn resigned after charges of alleged sexual assault on a hotel maid in New York.

Earlier, India has lashed out at the rich nations over the run for IMP post, saying they don't "want to give up power easily."

"Those who exercise power do not want to give up power easily. The struggle for a better, balanced and more equitable world order, including the management of global institutions like the IMF, World Bank, (UN) Security Council is going to be a long haul, I am afraid," Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh told the media one week ago.

Though France's Finance Minister has announced her bid for the post of Managing Director of the IMF, the Indian Prime Minister hoped that a consensus would emerge for the top job at the IMF, which is generally acceptable. He said that "India is in touch with various countries."