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With the upcoming India-US trade summit in New York, everyone is looking forward to it as it will boost investment in both the countries.
The indo-US trade summit is on Sep 10-11 in New York.
"The summit for US-India Trade and Economics (SUITE 2009) will focus on investment-driven collaborations in education, environment, power and energy, business and financing, IT, infrastructure, food processing and healthcare," said Indo-American Chamber of Commerce (IACC) secretary general R.K. Chopra.
The event will provide the platform to promote business and investment opportunities with participation of senior representatives of governments and trade bodies of both the sides.
The UN Secretary “General Ban Ki-moon” and “New York” mayor “Michael Bloomberg” will address the summit.
The Indian delegation will be comprised of Commerce Minister Anand Sharma, Power Minister Sushilkumar Shinde and Food Processing Industries Minister Subodh Kant Sahay along with Minister of State for IT and Communications Gurudas Kamat.
"We want to leverage potential synergies with the US as a strategic partner”, R.K.Chopra said.
About 100 chief executives from India Inc, senior officials, policy makers, entrepreneurs and experts in legal, finance and healthcare sectors have confirmed their participation," R.K.Chopra added.
Cisco's Indian subsidiary, IT bellwether Wipro and Quest will be among the firms that will be representing large, medium and small enterprises.
"The summit will provide a forum to exchange views on various aspects of business between India and the US, including investment in both the countries,” R.K. Chopra said.
Though bilateral trade nearly tripled to $42 billion in 2007-08 from $14 billion in 2000, the financial crisis and the subsequent recession in the US have dipped Indian merchandise exports in the first five months of 2009 to $8.5 billion from $10.9 billion in the year-ago period.
In 2008, US exports to India were $17.68 billion while imports from India stood at $25.7 billion.
Similarly, in services trade, Indian exports increased steadily to $9.35 billion in 2007 from $1.89 billion in 2000, while imports from the US gathered momentum to touch $9.6 billion in 2007 from $2.54 billion in 2000.
According to the US Bureau of Economic Analysis, travel, passenger and transport segments accounted for 45 percent of total services from the US to India.
Educational services contributed 24 percent, business, professional and technical services 14 percent and royalties and licence fees 10 percent.
The Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) estimates the bilateral trades will double every three years to touch a whopping $320 billion by 2018.
A CII report entitled "India-US Economic Relations: The Next Decade" said considering that India accounts for a mere 1.3 percent of the US trade, there was huge potential to increase bilateral business in the next 10 years. It recommended a comprehensive economic cooperation agreement, covering goods and services.
"As the only bilateral trade body between the two countries, we will take the initiative to advocate India as an innovation partner," said IACC Karnataka Wing's Chairman Vasanth Kini.
In this context, the chambers advocated incentives to US firms for setting up research and development (R&D) centers in India.
The Indian delegation will also showcase opportunities in the healthcare sector, especially wellness and tourism.
"The untapped areas for investments and partnerships are verification and legal services, aerospace, insurance and healthcare. The three agreements signed in nuclear, space and defence areas during Hillary Clinton's visit pave the way for greater collaborations in other areas”, Vasanth Kini said.
