Business is a big focus of US president Barack Obama's three-day visit to India and he, alongwith Prime Minister Narendra Modi, will meet and address top CEOs from both countries this evening.
Here are the latest developments of the story
With the US targeting a five-fold increase to 500 billion dollars in two-way trade by 2025, two meetings will be held today. First, President Obama and PM Modi will meet the India-US CEO Forum and then they will address a Indo-US business summit, both at the Taj Palace hotel in Delhi.
PM Modi's pet initiative "Make in India" will be the key thrust of talks today, with discussions on creating the right atmosphere for massive bilateral business cooperation, particularly in the light of the US being a major potential source of manufacturing investments.
30 business leaders from the US - including Indira Nooyi of Pepsico, Harold McGraw, Chairman McGraw Hill Financial and Ajay Banga, CEO Mastercard - have flown in to Delhi to attend the meetings.
17 Indian CEOs will attend the US-Indo CEO forum, to be co-chaired by Cyrus Mistry of Tata Sons and David M Cote from Honeywell.
Others on the forum from the Indian side include Mukesh Ambani of Reliance Industries Limited, his younger brother Anil Ambani, Chairman of Reliance Group, Bharti chief Sunil Mittal, ICICI Bank MD & CEO Chanda Kochhar, Infosys CEO Vishal Sikka, Adani Group head Gautam Adani, Shashi Ruia, Chairman of Essar Group, Mahindra & Mahindra Chairman Anand Mahindra, Hari Bhartia, Co-chariman and and Director of Jubilant Life Sciences, Biocon Chairman and MD Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw and Sudhir Mehta of Torrent Pharma.
Speaking to NDTV, Anand Mahindra said while the removal of hurdles yesterday in the nuclear deal opens up a huge opportunity for American companies with billion of dollars of trade unlocked, it is the defence space which will allow a greater focus on technology transfer and on "Make in India."
India and the US have renewed their 10-year Defence Framework Agreement and agreed to pursue joint development and production projects. PM Modi said yesterday that this will help upgrade the country's domestic defence industry and expand its manufacturing sector.
Critical issues like visa impediments for professionals, intellectual property rights and a bilateral investment treaty are also expected to be discussed today.
India has already relaxed foreign investment caps and norms in various sectors including defence, insurance and pharmaceuticals. The government has also taken a slew of other initiatives with a view to improving the business climate and attract foreign investment.
Bilateral trade between the two countries stood at USD 61.64 billion in 2013-14. India has received USD 13.28 billion in FDI from the US between April 2000 and November 2014.America is the sixth largest investor in India.
