Prime Minister Narendra Modi (Reuters)
Prime Minister Narendra Modi will arrive in the United States on Friday aiming to woo corporate titans and crown a burst of investment-focused diplomacy.
Mr Modi, who was elected in May, will spend two days in New York before heading to Washington for his first meeting with US President Barack Obama. The US leader is keen to see a strategic relationship he has called "one of the defining partnerships of the 21st century" live up to its potential.
In meetings over the past month with world powers including China and Japan, Mr Modi won investment pledges of $55 billion to support his domestic reform drive. But no such state largesse can be expected in Washington and Mr Modi has recognized it is the US private sector he must win over.
Investors in the US are positive but cautious about investing in India. Teresa C Barger an investment fund manager in New York told NDTV, "My big wish list which is unachievable is labour reforms, land reforms and understanding how important WTO is to India. Quickly, I'd like him to do what he is doing - get rid of red tape."
How far investors will be convinced by Mr Modi's promise to replace red tape with a "red carpet" remains to be seen. India this year slipped three places to 134 on a World Bank list of 189 countries ranked according to their ease of doing business.
"People are impatient because they are so eager to see India accelerate its growth again," said Diane Farrell, acting president of the U.S. India Business Council, adding, "But it's like trying to turn an aircraft carrier - it takes time, it takes precision and it doesn't happen in a few minutes."
In the run-up to the trip Mr Modi's government gave relief to US businesses - scrapping a proposal to place anti-dumping duties on foreign solar panels and reining in a government agency that capped drug prices.
The PM, who has said commerce is "in my blood," will meet 17 US corporate chiefs including those of Google, IBM , GE, Goldman Sachs and Boeing - some at a breakfast where he is not expected to eat because he is observing a nine-day fast for the Navratri festival.
The Modi government is anxious to create jobs for the millions of people who enter the employment market each year, and Mr Modi heads to the US a day after launching an ambitious push to make the country a global manufacturing hub.
Mr Modi's schedule lists about 35 engagements during a 100-hour trip, including a rock-star-like address at New York's Madison Square Garden, a speech to the United Nations and an appearance at a Central Park festival that features rap star Jay Z.
He will meet the US political elite, including leaders of Congress and former President Bill Clinton and his wife, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, who is tipped for a White House run in 2016.
Former deputy US trade representative Susan Esserman said in Washington recently, "With the election of Modi we see a new era, a dramatic change in approach, with his full-throated embrace of business and foreign direct investment as key to economic growth and his agenda," adding, "We have never before seen an Indian prime minister's visit so heavily business-oriented and so packed with meetings with the US business community."