K V Kamath, President, Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) and Managing Director and CEO, ICICI Bank Ltd, is leading a 9 member delegation as part of the CII CEOs Mission to the United States from 24-26 June 2008 with the aim of strengthening the bilateral ties; augmenting economic and commercial cooperation between the two nations to greater and newer heights and discussing innovative ways to collaborate on global economic challenges.

The main thrust of the mission would be to focus on doubling Indian investments in US in the next few years. “Today the Indian investments into US stand at around US$ 4 billion and the scope from India is enormous and CII’s annual visit would strive to explore how this could be doubled in the next few years”, said the CII President.

The CII CEOs Mission comprises: Jignesh Shah, Chairman and CEO, Financial Technologies Ltd, Harpal Singh, Chairman, Ranbaxy Laboratories Ltd, Rajan Navani, Managing Director, Jetline Group of Companies, Syamal Gupta, Chairman, TATA International, Hari Bhartia, Vice Chairman and Managing Director, Jubilant Organosys Ltd, Gopal Srinivasan, Chairman & Managing Director, TVS Capital Funds Ltd, and Chandrajit Banerjee, Director General, CII.

Coinciding with the visit of the CEOs delegation, on the first day of the visit, CII in partnership with The Asia Society is organizing a full day Conference on “Indian Financial Markets III” on 24 June at New York. The conference aims to discuss issues on development of Indian financial markets, real estate, regulatory, banking and long term investments funds with eminent business leaders from both India and the United States.

Besides many of the delegation members, the conference would be addressed by  C B Bhave, Chairman, Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI), Sanjay Gupta, Chief Marketing Officer, Bharti Airtel Ltd, Rajiv B Lall, Managing Director & CEO, IDFC Ltd, among others.

In New York, the delegation would meet with Dr Henry Kissinger to seek his valuable inputs and thoughts in strengthening India US ties and take it to a higher level of interaction, both political and economic.

While in Washington, the CEOs delegation will also meet with Ambassador Ronen Sen, key officials from US Administration, Senators and Congressmen and thought leaders from leading Think Tanks. The delegation will also address leaders from Industry, Government, Academia, Think Tanks and Press at a business event, jointly organized by CII and the US India Business Council – a strong institutional partner of CII in US.  

The leadership from both the sides is committed to sustaining and enhancing the immense progress that has been achieved in the bilateral relationship. The Next steps in Strategic Partnership initiated by President George Bush and Prime Minister Singh in the year 2005 is being pursued today with greater vigor and momentum by leaders from both the sides be it political business or social.

The trade between the two countries has increased approximately 190 % from 14.4 bn USD in 2002 to 41.6 bn USD in 2007. There is an increased investment flow on both sides. The Indian investments in the Unites States have witnessed stupendous growth in last three years contributing to economic growth and creating employment opportunities in the United States. This is a strong testament to strengthening economic and commercial cooperation.

Sourced From: Confederation of Indian Industry