GE to make turbines for Samalkot power plant

US-based General Electric (GE) factory's India unit would manufacture advance turbines for a power plant in Samalkot, Andhra Pradesh, that would create some 1600 jobs, US President Barack Obama has said.

Obama, who yesterday travelled to Schenectady in New York to visit the GE factory, said the GE deal was a result of his successful India visit in November last year.

"Part of the reason I wanted to come to this plant is because this plant is what that (India) trip was all about," he said at the factory.

During Obama's trip to India, the US businesses were able to reach an agreement to export $10 billion in goods and services to India, which is estimated to create some 50,000 jobs in the United States.

"As part of the deal we struck in India, GE is going to sell advanced turbines -- the ones you guys make -- to generate power at a plant in Samalkot, India," Obama said.

He told the audience that he is sure that most of them might not have heard the name of this Indian town, which is now creating jobs for them.

"Most of you hadn't heard of Samalkot," he said. "But now you need to know about it, because you're going to be selling to Samalkot, India," he said.

"And that new business halfway around the world is going to help support more than 1,200 manufacturing jobs and more than 400 engineering jobs right here in this community -- because of that sale," Obama said.

"So it's a perfect example of why promoting exports is so important. That's why I've set a goal of doubling American exports within five years. And we're on track to do it. We're already up 18 per cent and we're just going to keep on going, because we're going to sell more and more stuff all around the world," he said.

Obama noted that "when a company sells products overseas, it leads to hiring on our shores. The deal in Samalkot means jobs in Schenectady. That's how we accelerate growth. That's how we create opportunities for our people."

"This is how we go from an economy that was powered by what we borrow and what we consume -- that's what happened over the last 10 years. What was driving our economy was we were spending a lot on credit cards. Everybody was borrowing a lot. The Chinese were selling a lot to us," he said.

"Folks were selling a lot to us from all over the world. We've got to reverse that. We want an economy that's fuelled by what we invent and what we build. We're going back to Thomas Edison's principles. We're going to build stuff and invent stuff," Obama said.

He said that in an ever-shrinking world, America's success in these efforts will be determined not only by what they build in Schenectady, but also what it can sell in Shanghai.

"For America to compete around the world, we need to export more goods around the world. That's where the customers are. It's that simple," he said.

"As I was walking through the plant, you guys had put up some handy signs so I knew what I was looking at. And I noticed on all of them they said, this is going to Kuwait; this is going to India; this is going to Saudi Arabia," the President said.