Piyush Goyal invited US companies to invest in India (Representational)
India will start Geographic Information System (GIS) based land buying service on a pilot basis to attract foreign companies, Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal said on Tuesday.
Addressing USIBC's India Ideas Summit through video conferencing, he said India will identify land for setting up industries through GIS-based tool.
Mr Goyal said that the GIS system will have Google earth view where a person sitting in Iceland can locate land in India and can buy it.
The minister also pushed for an "early harvest" agreement with the US.
"The US and India need to sit down at the negotiating table and work towards a much more sustainable, and much more enduring partnership in the form of a Free Trade Agreement (FTA). If FTA is taking time then the two sides should work on 100-150 products, goods and services to agree on and begin with," he said.
He invited US companies to invest in India.
"Every investor, in the long run, is looking for credible ways of doing business when he engages with a country. Aatmanirbhar Bharat programme wishes to prepare India to work with the world on equal terms. We want to offer India as a reliable business partner," he said.
Congressman Ami Bera, US Representative from California, said that India has a very mature pharma manufacturing sector and US companies are already working very closely with India.
"This is an area where India can help the US and the rest of the world. India is the largest player in the vaccine. Indian pharma companies have the opportunity to help the US not only price-wise but like a partner. This is the moment where both countries can come close," he said.
He said India is an attractive destination for investment and has a very good opportunity to attract those US companies who are leaving China.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)