Indo-US Ties to be Stronger with Obama Re-election: Chidambaram

New Delhi: Finance Minister P Chidambaram today expressed the hope that economic ties with the United States would improve with the re-election of Barack Obama as the US President.

"I congratulate President Obama. I hope that Indo-US relations (will) get stronger...Especially economic relations", he told reporters.

Obama won the election to get a second term as the US President overcoming a stiff challenge from Republican Mitt Romney.

A votary of strong ties with India, 51-year-old Obama, the first black American to occupy the White House, scored the victory after a bitter and costly campaign running over months.

Leaders of India Inc too have welcomed the re-election of Obama saying that continuity would be good for bilateral relations, but some of them expressed concerns over the outsourcing issue.

India Inc Happy With Obama's Win

"This is a good development for India. Between two large economies there will be issues and concerns. Outsourcing is also a concern and I hope it will be addressed soon," Godrej Group Chairman Adi Godrej told reporters on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum on India here.

Expressing similar views, Bharti Group Chairman Sunil Bharti Mittal said: "It is on expected lines but there was some heat reported in the last few days. I think it will be good for India. There will be continuity."

When asked about concerns over outsourcing he said: "I have heard this in the previous election. We saw Mr Clinton go very heavy on outsourcing and we did not see anyone of these impacting our outsourcing business or relationships."

Obama has won a second term in office overcoming a stiff initial challenge from his Republican challenger Mitt Romney.

During the presidential campaign, Obama had criticised outsourcing of jobs to countries like India saying that U.S. needs to create jobs locally.

The U.S. and European markets account for over 80 per cent of revenues of the Indian IT industry.

However, NIIT Chairman Rajendra S Pawar said that with the election, the rhetoric is also over and "we are back to business. It is good for America and Indian IT sector."

BPO industry veteran and former CEO of Genpact Pramod Bhasin, however, said the issue of outsourcing was more than a plain election rhetoric.

"I think there will be greater implications as he (Obama) focusses on issues like unemployment. I just hope he remains true to free trade and all the other things that he talks about so well," he said.