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Top CEOs from India and the US, including the Tata Group’s Cyrus Mistry, Reliance Industries’ Mukesh Ambani and Honeywell’s David Cote, are scheduled to meet on January 26 during US President Barack Obama’s official visit to New Delhi. Together they will set the economic agenda for bilateral cooperation.
Mistry will co-chair the meeting with Cote, CEO of US-based technology conglomerate Honeywell, according to a government official.
“Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Obama may also attend the meeting,” the official said, adding that the latter’s agenda for the day is still being finalised.
Other CEOs on the Indian side include the Adani Group’s Gautam Adani, Infosys’ Vishal Sikka, Essar’s Shashi Ruia and Bharti Group’s Sunil Bharti Mittal. SBI chairperson Arundhati Bhattacharya and ONGC’s Dinesh Saraf will also attend the meeting.
Obama will be the chief guest at India’s Republic Day celebrations and will also hold a dialogue with Modi.
The PM had visited Washington on an official tour last November.
“It will be an intense meeting with both the US and Indian businesses pointing out exactly what problems they have been facing in doing business with the other country and also state what they expect on the policy front,” the official said.
Raise concernsThe US, India’s second largest trade partner after China, accounted for $61.64 billion of bilateral trade in 2013-14.
India is expected to raise concerns about issues such as the “Buy American” legislation passed by several US states, delay in finalisation of the social security agreement, visa problems faced by Indian IT companies and harsh treatment of pharmaceutical companies by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA).
“These are the issues that Modi is also likely to take up with Obama in their bilateral talks,” the official added.
Washington is yet to send its final agenda for discussions. US companies operating in India, such as Cisco, Amazon, Heinz and Morgan Stanley, had listed their woes to an inter-ministerial panel last December.
These ranged from import restrictions and delayed environmental clearances to licensing issues and land acquisition hurdles.
Tightening of India’s Intellectual Property policy is also likely to be high on the US agenda.
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