India and the United States have agreed to establish an investment initiative to facilitate investment in India by American institutional investors and corporate entities.
The Indo-US Investment Initiative will focus on deepening capital markets, especially debt markets, to support the long-term financing of infrastructure in India, says a joint statement issued after the talks between President Barack Obama and Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
Eyeing a five-fold increase in bilateral trade from about $100 billion now, the two sides have committed to working together to facilitate greater investment in both directions, to open new Indian sectors to private investment, and to address impediments to growth.
In response to the Prime Minister’s “Smart Cities” initiative, the United States has welcomed India’s offer to American industry to be lead partner in developing smart cities in Allahabad, Ajmer and Vishakhapatnam.
The US Department of Commerce will conduct a series roundtable discussions with other US Government agencies and industry groups with their Indian counterparts to identify actionable solutions and plans to design and implement novel infrastructure platforms for new Indian smart cities, said a fact sheet issued by the State Department.
It was also announced that the United States and India would partner on the Digital India initiative, with the goal of enhancing digital infrastructure, deploying e-governance and e-services, and digitally empowering India’s citizens.
The two sides have tasked the US-India Information and Communication Technology (ICT) Working Group to finalise details of cooperation by the upcoming India-US Technology Summit in November in New Delhi.
On the infrastructure front, the two sides have agreed to establish an Infrastructure Collaboration Platform that will include mechanisms to identify and clarify critical infrastructure needs of India, provide a single Government of India point of contact for coordinating across ministries, and work with US and Indian industry to facilitate a substantial increase in American industry participation in the execution of infrastructure projects in several sectors -- power, water, sanitation, transportation, safety and smart cities.
Senior officials from the US Commerce Department are to lead two trade missions to India in 2015 focused on infrastructure opportunities in India.
In his address to the US India Business Council before departing for New Delhi, the Prime Minister invited American corporates to establish and expand their base in India, take advantage of an economy that is poised to grow fast. He assured American investors that in a matter of six months, he would implement all necessary things to boost the ease of doing business in India.