During his ongoing visit to the United States, Prime Minister Narendra Modi met almost twenty CEOs of top American tech companies and invited them to invest in India, advocating the country to be a business-friendly destination.
At a Round Table Conference with the likes of Apple’s Tim Cook, Google’s Sunder Pichai, Cisco’s John Chambers, and Amazon’s Jeff Bezos, Modi spoke of India’s advancement especially with the implementation of the upcoming GST starting July 1st.
During the Conference he said,
The whole world is looking at India. 7,000 reforms alone were carried out by the Government of India for ease of business and minimum government, maximum governance
The growth of India presents a win-win partnership for India and the United States both. US companies have a great opportunity to contribute to that.
The Prime Minister also stated that the “landmark initiative of GST” could be studied in US business schools. He pointed out that there were several opportunities for tourism that could be seized by developing hotels through Public-Private Partnership (PPP) in about 500 railway stations, according to Gopal Baglay who is the spokesperson of the Ministry of External Affairs.
The CEOs were quite impressed and praised the PM for the initiatives he has taken so far in his reign, including ‘Make in India’, ‘Digital India’, ‘Start Up India’, as well as the demonetization and digitization of the economy.
Pichai, Cook, and Bezos came out of the meeting seeming pleased with the discussion and excited to invest in India. According to a tweet by Baglay,
CEOs outline priorities in India and suggestions for mutually beneficial partnerships in line with inclusive growth
Modi further encouraged Indians living in the US to invest in their homeland by saying,
India is seen as a glowing and attractive FDI destination. The Indian diaspora abroad has possibilities and exposure. The diaspora has richness of experience and skills. I invite the diaspora to make use of the best opportunity to repay the debt to your country of birth.
In conclusion, the Prime Minister spoke of how his government’s main aim was to constantly improve the quality of life of the citizens and to continue to do this, the country would require a global partnership.
The CEOs also showed willingness to use their companies to take initiatives in social areas like women empowerment, digital technology, education, as well as food processing.
While the Prime Minister is yet to bring up the H-1B visa, this Round Table Conference has definitely helped to strengthen economic ties between the two countries. Stay tuned to get more updates about Modi’s visit to the US.
