Hasten economic reforms in India: US CEOs to Modi

Heads of media firms seek early expansion of India's 4G network, TV digitisation

Top American chief executive officers (CEOs) have sought “additional steps” to hasten economic reforms in India, following which Prime Minister Narendra Modi promised faster decision-making.

“Please continue to do more of what you are doing, maybe slightly faster,” 42 CEOs of American companies, with collective net worth of $4.5 trillion, told the PM at a meeting here on Thursday (local time).

“By and large, the mood was very upbeat. There is a general consensus that the PM is effecting change in India. The only thing all the CEOs said was ‘please make that change faster’,” Vikas Swarup, spokesperson of the external affairs ministry, told reporters. During the ‘Roundtable with American Inc’, the PM listened to each of the CEOs present about their concerns and plans for India, he added.

At a separate meeting with the PM, leaders from US media and entertainment firms pitched for early expansion of India’s 4G network and TV digitisation. The CEOs, representing 40 per cent of the world’s entertainment sector, appreciated Modi for “energetic and dynamic leadership” and expressed optimism on India, according to a statement. They were enthusiastic about the  transformation taking place in India through the ‘Digital India’ initiative, it said.

Inviting US companies to set up manufacturing units in India, Modi said, “Reform in governance is my No 1 priority. We are for simplified procedures, speedy decision-making, transparency and accountability.” He listed the sectors that had been opened to investment and said, “FDI (foreign direct investment) all over the world has fallen. But in India, it has increased 40 per cent…This reflects the confidence in the Indian economy.”

Among the 42 business heads present at the meeting were Lockheed Martin Chairman and CEO Marillyn Hewson, Ford President and CEO Mark Fields, IBM Chairman Ginni Rometty, PepsiCo chief Indra Nooyi and Dow Chemical Chairman Andrew Liveris.

Modi told the CEOs fundamentally, he believed in deregulation — the government should allow the private sector to develop. He added he favoured predictable, transparent and accountable governance. At the meeting, the PM circulated a one-page fact sheet summarising the steps taken towards deregulation, reforms and bringing consistency in tax laws in India.

The CEOs were appreciative of the PM’s vision of economic development and the progress made through the past 15 months, went an official statement. Swarup said the CEOs felt change was “afoot and visible” in India.

The media CEOs who met Modi, including News Corp’s Rupert Murdoch, Sony Entertainment’s Michael Lynton, and Discovery Communications’ David Zaslav, sought strengthening of mobile infrastructure in India. James Murdoch, CEO of 21st Century Fox; Robert Thompson, CEO of News Corp; and Uday Shankar, CEO of STAR India, were also present at the meeting.