NEW YORK: Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s US visit is all about money and rolling in investments into India. Of the 35-odd meetings that Modi will attend over his five days in New York and Washington, there is one with 300 to 400 business leaders who will attend a session hosted by the India-US Business Council. Among others, the council counts Vijay Advani of Franklin Templeton Investments, Banmali Agrawala of General Electric, Jaspal Bindra of Standard Chartered, William Cohen of the Cohen Group and Francisco D’Souza of Cognizant among its members.
The stress on meeting with private US business groups is not unusual—the MEA spokesperson said that the PM was adapting to the nature of US economy. “There is an English saying ‘horses for courses’,” said MEA Spokesman Syed Akbaruddin in Delhi before Modi took off. In Japan, Modi had held a couple of meetings with the heads of Japanese corporates. He had also attended two business events. As a result, Modi returned from Tokyo with $35 billion in investments, spread over five years. When Chinese President Xi Jinping visited India, there were hardly any businessmen in his entourage. It was appropriate to China, since government firms are the biggest industry boys. Xi promised $20 billion in investments before leaving on his jet plane.
A CLEAR AGENDA: With US investment being driven by private sector agendas, Modi’s priorities were clear from his itinerary: he wants to raise US investments levels which had dipped to $800 million in 2013-14 from to $1.9 billion in 2009. “The Prime Minister is reaching out to the business community because the way investment decisions are made in the United States is slightly different from China and Japan. Therefore, our strategies also are different,” said the spokesman. This spirit was reflected even at the Taj Pierre event, where bridges were being sought to be built with the US private sector, which has been the main drivers for the probes by the US Trade Representative’s Office on India’s “restrictive” policies. “Old fears can only be let go once there is much more mingling,” said a senior businessmen, swirling a glass of Sauvignon Blanc. The loner Modi, on Navaratra fast and existing purely on lime juice and water, is a teetotaller. In the US, during the flurry of meals and meetings, he is heady on the success of bringing billions to India all by himself. For India Inc, there are no RSVPs.