Some major power agreements are expected to be signed during Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee's visit, taking Indo-US economic cooperation to new heights.
Also, India expects financial inflows to increase
substantially in the telecom sector with the country opening it to private players. Discussions in this regard are taking
place and officials say the response is very positive.
Throughout the last decade, the balance of trade with US
has been in favour of India and last year the country's
exports amounted to $ 9,083 million against imports
amounting to $ 3,707 million, thus giving an advantage
of $ 5,376 million to India.
Finance Minister Yashwant Sinha will participate in the
discussions and interactions with the captains of business and industry.
The focus of discussions would be Power, Telecom, Textile
and Civil Aviation Sectors as India has a vast potential for foreign investments in these areas.
During the last decades, though India approved projects
worth $ 14 billion, the actual inflows were only $ 2.5
billion.
The situation is now changing rapidly with India
accelerating economic reforms, cutting down red tapism and making procedures simpler for investors.
Major industries attracting US investments are fuel
(Power and Oil Refinery) and telecommunication, others
include chemicals, metallurgical, food processing, computer software and electronics.
India's concerns in textile sector will be discussed with the officials during the visit and some progress is expected.
One of the major concerns is that Indian Textile, which
reaches Europe for processing and then is sent to the United States, is counted both in the European and American quotas.
India considers this unfair and is holding discussions
to sort out the issue.
The economic cooperation between India and the US has
been growing at ever-increasing rate since India began
economic reforms but analysts consider the pace to be slow, given the potential that exists.
The United States is now not only the largest investor in
India but also its largest trading partner. The trade between the two countries last year was $ 12.79 billion reflecting an increase of almost hundred per cent since 1992. Analysts expect the pace to pickup further as India makes conditions for investment more conducive.
Vajpayee will deliver a key-note address on Wednesday at a meeting of American and Indian businessmen organised by Confederation of Indian Industry in New York. His address would come after a technical session on infrastructure, financial and capital markets in which Yashwant Sinha will also participate.
Bureau Report
