The enthusiasm of Indian and US industry towards Prime Minister Narendra Modi's visit to United States was very much visible in FICCI-USIBC Interaction on 'Imperatives for the India-US Collaboration' organised at Federation House. The USIBC delegation led by Mr Ajay Banga, Chairman, USIBC President &CEO, Mastercard Worldwide discussed wide ranging areas of cooperation for India-US economic engagement. The Past Presidents of FICCI Mr Rajan Bharti Mittal Vice Chairman Managing Director, Bharti Enterprises Ltd; Mr Harsh Pati Singhania, Vice Chairman & Managing Director, J K Paper Ltd along with other eminent industry leaders also joined the meeting and shared their insights into matters pertaining to India-US trade and Investment issues.
The discussion started on an optimistic note with Mr Banga asserting that the coming of the new Government in India led by Mr Narendra Modi has opened up numerous opportunities to establish a long term bilateral economic relationship, based on sound commitments to strengthen the commercial engagement which had been lacking for quite some time. Mr Rajan Bharti Mittal agreed with this sense of optimism which the new government has ushered in and pointed out that the change in leadership has also helped in creating a new mindset where the focus is on innovative areas such as SMART cities, high speed trains and privatisation of airports.
The areas which were discussed during the course of the meeting included initiatives which can promote manufacturing in India, develop infrastructure, education & skills and ways of attracting more investment into India. There was widespread agreement that India needs to make the transition from being a service hub to a manufacturing hub, with Mr Banga stressing that India needs to capitalize on the space created by the decline in Chinese manufacturing sector, and become part of the global supply chain. For this to happen it is important that India is able to attract more FDI than FIIs. He further highlighted the importance of predictability, consistency and level-playing field for the investors to take investment decisions. He brought special attention to the tourism sector apart from manufacturing for job creation and growth of the country.
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