WASHINGTON: Minister of State (Independent Charge) for Commerce and Industry Nirmala Sitharaman on Tuesday said that India is undergoing a massive transformation in terms of doing business globally.
“The India of today is very different from India of yesterday, and there is a need of perceptions to change in the way we interact and do business. India is on the cusp of massive transformation in doing business globally,” said Sitharaman at India-United States strategic and commercial dialogue that is being held here.
“India is one of the largest democracies with consistent track record of steady and upward growths barring few aberrations,” she added.
Stressing that India is committed to strategic partnership with United States, Sitharaman said, “We fully appreciate the need for the two nations to work together both on identifying newer areas of cooperation for enhanced economic and commercial engagement as also for resolving challenges that impede it in the spirit of together we move forward (chale sath sath) as ambitioned by our two leaders.”
She further said that the trade between both the countries has grown manifold in the past decade.
“Our merchandise trade in both goods and services has multiplied more than five times from 19 billion US dollars in 2000 to more than 100 billion US dollars in 2014, making US India’s largest trade partners and largest destination for our exports,” she added.
Sitharaman also said that India has seen a significant increase in the Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) in recent times, adding that USA has become sixth largest investor in India over the last fifteen years.
“There is encouraging news on the investment front as well with FDI growth registering a 48 percent increase over the previous year to the tune of 45 billion US dollars,” she added.
Tuesday’s India-US Strategic and Commercial Dialogue will see delegations of both nations holding discussions in areas of mutual interest and identify possible areas for collaboration.
The dialogue is seen as the most comprehensive mechanism for discussion and deliberation on the specifics of bilateral agenda of cooperation in different fields between India and the United States.
Apart from External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj, the Indian delegation comprises of Minister of State (Independent Charge) for Commerce and Industry Nirmala Sitharaman and Power Minister Piyush Goyal, besides senior Indian Government officials.