NEW DELHI — The promise of increased trade between the U.S. and India is expected to begin taking shape this month, with the goal of upping it to $500 billion annually from $100 billion in 2013.
The discussions are expected to be led on the U.S. side by President Obama, who will be chief guest at the Republic day celebrations on Jan. 26 here, and Secretary of State John Kerry, who arrived in India on Sunday.
India is now the second-largest textile exporter in the world while retailers such as Wal-Mart as well e-tailers Amazon and eBay have been speaking out against what they see as policy hurdles and impediments to reaching the market of 1.2 billion people and the growing economy.
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India exported $6.5 billion textiles to the U.S. by July 2014, up 8 percent over the previous year.
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Kerry flew in to Ahmedabad, the largest city in the Western state of Gujarat, on Sunday, in time for the three-day Vibrant Gujarat Global Summit 2015. He also met separately with Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who described the summit as the “Davos of the East.”
“Part of the secretary’s agenda while he’s there is going to be meeting with American chief executive officers,” said Jen Psaki, U.S. State Department spokeswoman. “He’ll also have a separate meeting with Indian ceos. And so they’ll be talking about the ongoing opportunities to continue — for the United States to continue to invest in India and to increase that partnership.”
More than 2,500 international delegates, along with many Indian top industry leaders, have gathered at the summit. Other leaders at the event included United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon and World Bank president Jim Yong Kim.
A ceo enclave on Sunday brought in some initial commitments for growth from both Indian industrialists and global sources. Mukesh Ambani, chairman of Reliance Industries Ltd., which has large holdings in segments including retail and textiles, said the company would invest 1 trillion rupees, or $16.09 billion at current exchange, over the next 12 to 18 months across segments. Others, including Kumar Mangalam Birla, group chairman of Aditya Birla Group, revealed investments totaling 200 billion rupees, or $3.21 billion, across several businesses and Sam Walsh, ceo of Australian company Rio Tinto, said that the company would add 30,000 jobs in the diamond cutting industry in Gujarat.
Addressing what have been some of the important concerns for global business, Modi reiterated an earlier assurance of making it easier to do business in India. He added that his government, which was elected in May 2014, is “committed to changing and improving the economic and social condition of India” and to creating a policy environment that is “predictable, transparent and fair.”
Substantiating the fact that economic reforms in India had begun, Yong Kim of the World Bank said that economic growth was expected to boost India’s gross domestic product by 6.4 percent in 2015 and accelerate it further in the following year. It was 5.5 percent in 2014. “Prime Minister Modi and his government are quickly putting in place the building blocks for even more rapid growth, streamlining the national regulatory structure, using public funds more efficiently and promoting social inclusion,” he said.
As Kerry left for the Ahmedabad airport on Monday, two cars in his motorcade were caught in a car crash, including the one he was in, but there were no injuries.