US delegation expects ministerial-level meeting to discuss exchange programme, visa

The council is supporting increasing the stamp visas and extending duration of visas for post graduates, to promote start ups in US

The US India Business Council (USIBC), a business advocacy organisation for the US in India, is expecting the coming ministerial-level meeting of the elevated “Strategic and Commercial Dialogue” (SCD), scheduled on September 22, to look at some form of an exchange programme to facilitate increased interaction, said  Diane Farrell, executive vice-president of USIBC.

It should also look at allotting more visas to enable exploring business opportunities in the US, she added. She said that the council was supporting two initiatives - expanding stamp visas and extending of visas for the students at the postgraduate level - to attract more start-ups to the US. “I think they will come up with some form of an exchange programme to facilitate increased interaction, on a two-way exchange basis,” she said.

This would be executed through academic institutions, or State local governments, added Farrell, who was in Chennai as part of a delegation of US Business firms in the first Global Investor Meeting 2015 organised by the Government of Tamil Nadu.

Speaking about some of the topics which would be deleberated in the SCD, she said, "We are supportive of two initiatives - more stamp visas and extending the visas for post graduates. That of course is to benefit US economy in terms of establishing start ups in the United States." With the growth of start up ecosystem in India, individual are returning to India to explore the opportunity. There are lot of businessmen who are talking about investment both in India and US and there is a significant investment opportunity to be tapped.