PM Modi Far From One-Man Band, Says Obama's Chief of International Trade

Washington DC: In four days, India and the US are set to kick off their first Strategic and Commercial Dialogue in Washington DC. Foreign Minister Sushma Swaraj and Commerce Minister Nirmala Sitharaman will be meeting their American counterparts including Secretary of State John Kerry and Commerce Secretary Penny Pritzker, along with a high-level delegation of top CEOs and bureaucrats.

NDTV spoke to a person who is key to this effort, President Obama's Chief of International trade, Stefan Selig, about the most important commercial issues on the block and what the US makes of the Modi government's economic willpower.

Here are some highlights from Stefan Selig's interview:
 

• PM Modi is far from a one-man band and the BJP government has been making steady progress since coming into power  
• PM Modi has set a very audacious target of bringing India's ease of doing business ranking to below 50 (India ranks 142 out of 189 countries on the ease of doing business according to a World Bank report)
• Targeting US-India bilateral trade to move up to $500 billion from current $100 billion where we are just scratching the surface
• Tax policy, infrastructure, red tape and bureaucracy are major impediments in doing business in India
• Top issues rankling India in the US include disagreement over Intellectual Property Rights, the battles between generic and big pharma and the US visa regime, specifically H1-B visas for IT workers.
• We issue more visas to Indians than any other country in the world
• The nature of dialogue has been more constructive than before, we see progress on irritants
• India could be a beneficiary from the Chinese fiasco and the slowdown in all the BRICS. India actually has a moment right now. If India can really differentiate, it can take advantage of issues in BRICS

The ongoing US-India Strategic dialogue is being elevated this year to a Strategic and Commercial Dialogue to reflect US and India's commitment to strengthen commercial and economic ties. It will be held in Washington DC on September 21-22.