Business
Business leaders welcome Modi-Obama vision for economy
New Delhi, Jan 26
India Inc. Monday welcomed
the outline for growth presented by both US President Barack Obama and
Prime Minister Narendra Modi at the US-India Business Summit here.
Welcoming
the shared vision of economic growth between India and the US,
Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) president Ajay Shriram said the
future of both the Indian and US economies is inter-linked in the
globalised world.
According to Shriram, the real need of the hour in expanding the growth and economic ties is to diversify the bilateral trade.
He
cited that top 20 items in the bilateral merchandise trade basket
constitute a majority 90 percent of the total trade, thus leaving
enormous scope to expand the items two countries traded in.
On
the measures announced by President Obama such as the US EXIM Bank's
(export import bank) programme to extend $1 billion in loans to help
promote US companies export to India, Shriram said this will increase
trade and business ties between the two sides.
Other partnership
measures announced by Obama, like lending to small and medium businesses
through funding of more than $1 billion and the US Trade and
Development Agency's plans to invest nearly $2 billion in renewable
energy in India, were also appreciated as key initiatives for growing
ties.
Shriram hoped that the newly announced US-India strategic
and commercial dialogue forum will convene soon to chart out the path
for enhanced bilateral economic cooperation.
He also welcomed
Prime Minister Modi’s announcement for setting up a new cell in the
Prime Minister's Office (PMO) to fast-track US investments in India.
Other
business leaders like Ajay Banga, chairman of USIBC (US-India Business
Council) and president and CEO of MasterCard, said that Sunday night’s
addresses by Obama and Modi underscore the economic growth - and the
pivotal moment in the history of the world’s two largest democracies.
"Hearing
from both world leaders reinforced my belief that the greatest days of
US-India relations lie ahead across all sectors and disciplines in
business and trade,†Banga said.
Both the countries are trying to
increase trade and investment and have set target to take bilateral
trade to $500 billion by 2020 from the current $100 billion mark.
The
bilateral trade reached $100 billion from $19 billion in 2000, and the
two-way trade relationship supports nearly 300,000 jobs in the US and
over 500,000 jobs in India.
Earlier at the meet, Modi reiterated
his development and policy agenda while stating that the state should be
driven by policies which should be consistent so as to draw more
investments.
He also revealed that US investments in India jumped by 50 percent in the first six months of his government.
"State
should be policy-driven. That will help investment. Consistency is
another very important aspect that will bring more investments in the
country. These things will address many problems," he said.
"We
are on the right path. Economic growth has increased. The business
confidence in India is among highest in major countries, the consumer
confidence in India has turned positive after three years," he added.
The
India-US CEO Forum which was held here saw top business honchos from
both the countries participate in deliberations over growing the trade
business linkages between Indian and US. India Inc. was led by Tata
Group chairman Cyrus Mistry.