US investors keen on India

By siliconindia   |   Thursday, 14 September 2006, 19:30 IST
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A large group of American businessmen are planning to visit India in November to look for opportunities to invest in the country, U.S. Ambassador David Mulford declared at the third Indo-US Economic Summit, which began in New Delhi on Wednesday. “We are in the planning stages of a U.S. trade mission in November. The U.S. business is looking to India and an impressive array of corporate leaders will be coming for that event,” said Mulford. Upto 200 representatives of U.S. businesses will take part in the mission, according to the U.S. Commerce Department Web site. The group will participate in the Mumbai Business Summit, before heading off to other cities. Mulford feels that foreign investors are keen to play a part in India's economy that has been growing at some 8 percent a year. Bilateral trade between the two countries in 2005 stood at US$26.8 billion and is growing at a rate of some 20 percent annually. However he said that there was a ‘pause’ in India's economic reforms process and that this loss of momentum could have serious economic costs attached to it. Defence minister Pranab Mukherjee who was also the chief guest at the event contested Mulford’s views saying, “Economic reforms are a continuous process. There could be minor hitches in the process of reforms, but democracy is about checks and balances.” “It is true that implementation of new policies brings up many problems and the defence sector had problems that are unique to it, given its size and structure. But timely corrective measures will be taken to smoothen the rollout of the new policy framework,” he said. Mukherjee also referred to the possibilities of defence cooperation with the U.S. He pointed out that India had streamlined its defence procurement process. “We know that there is a substantial body of capital wanting to be invested in India if the right conditions materialize. One needs to think of the positive impact on the future rate of economic growth from large-scale retail and financial liberalization to appreciate India's potential,” informed Mulford.