Business trumps breakfast: What bullish US CEOs told PM Modi at their first meeting

New York: Over a power-packed breakfast meeting with captains of 11 large American corporations, Prime Minister Narendra Modi today pitched for big-ticket investments to develop India’s infrastructure and create more jobs and enhance the quality of life.

The Prime Minister is believed to have pitched the India story in his interactions with the top executives, including Indian-origin PepsiCo CEO Indra Nooyi, Google Chairman Eric Schmidt and Citigroup chief Michael Corbat.

He also discussed steps that can be taken to enhance India’s business environment.

The spokesman of the Ministry of External Affairs Syed Akbaruddin tweeted the following:

India is open-minded. We want change. Chnage that is not 1 sided. Am discussing with citizens, industrialists & investors -PM @narendramodi

— Randhir Jaiswal (@MEAIndia) September 29, 2014

Infrastructure development is a big opportunity; it creates jobs & enhances quality of life of our citizens -PM @narendramodi to CEOs.

— Randhir Jaiswal (@MEAIndia) September 29, 2014

Business more than breakfast is on agenda at PM @narendramodi Business Breakfast. pic.twitter.com/EU5mI2dQcp

— Randhir Jaiswal (@MEAIndia) September 29, 2014

Significantly, all companies already have considerable presence in India and their chiefs are believed to have expressed intention to further expand their engagements with the Indian government and enhance their business presence in the country.

Those present at the breakfast meeting also included Mastercard CEO Ajay Banga, Cargill’s President and CEO David W MacLennan, Caterpillar’s Douglas Oberhelman, AES’ Andres Gluski, Merck’s Kenneth Frazier, Co-founder and Co-CEO of Carlyle Group David Rubenstein, Hospira’s Michael Ball and Warburg Pincus’ Charles Kaye.

Significantly, all companies already have considerable presence in India and their chiefs are believed to have expressed intention to further expand their engagements with the Indian government and enhance their business presence in the country.

After the meeting, the Prime Minister listed out areas like tourism, skill development and infrastructure as his key focus areas.

Nooyi described the meeting as “excellent”. “He answers questions brilliantly and is very focused on improving India. So, we are thrilled to be working with him.”

Mastercard CEO Banga said the Prime Minister was a good listener and he believed that Modi can execute plans like the way he did in Gujarat.

“I have every belief he can do that. I believe then you can have a very good decade or ahead of growth in India and that would make every American investor happy to put their capital, technology and their people into India,” he said.

Banga said one should worry less about the past and worry more about the future. “What matters is that his perspective is clear and if he is able to execute the way he has executed when he was CM of Gujarat, I have every belief he can do that.”

Banga said Modi was focused on generating jobs for which there was need for improving manufacturing and tourism and infrastructure.

“His view is that he will get those with clear policies as well as about willingness to execute and he made the point many times over and I think from his perspective of his focus and his energy around Asia,” he said.

Andres R Giluski, CEO of AES Corporation which in the power sector in Odisha, said the Prime Minister listened to everyone’s concerns and he thought he was planning to address them.

Asked what bottlenecks he would want the government of India to remove, he said there are number of issues and reforms happening and “I think all of these are movingquicker. The Prime Minister likes to get things done and so do we.”

When asked to give his first impression of the Prime Minister, he said “excellent a Prime Minister”.

GE CEO Jeffery Immelt said they had an excellent meeting with the PM.

“GE is a long term investor in India. We look forward to more in the future. PM has a good head set for business. Look forward to him to continue to drive the reforms. India is a great country and place to invest,” he said.

The over one-hour-long breakfast meet wasfollowed by one-on-one meetings with six CEOs of Boeing, KKR, BlackRock, IBM, General Electric and Goldman Sachs.

“We discussed India. We are enthusiastic about the changes and the reforms in India and we are anxious to do our part in making India a better place,” Goldman Sachs CEO Lloyd Blankfein was quoted as saying in a report in The Times of India.

During the meeting with the Prime Minister, technology major IBM’s CEO Virginia Rometty envinced interest to participate in the government’s new initiatives related to smart cities and digital India, the PTI reported.

Reflecting optimism over opportunities in the country, world’s largest asset manager Blackrock’s CEO Laurence Flik conveyed to Modi that it would host a global investors meet in India next year.

According to MEA spokesman Akbaruddin Boeing CEO James McNerney has told the prime minister that the company wants to accelerate engagement with India.

This is the first extensive business engagement in the US of the Prime Minister, who will also attend business meets in Washington tomorrow during his second leg of the 5-day visit.

With inputs from PTI