CII president welcomes comments by PM Modi, Prez Obama at US-India Business Summit

Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) president Ajay Shriram has welcomed the comments made by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and U.S. President Barack Obama at the US-India Business Summit organized in New Delhi on Monday.

Agreeing with President Obama's observation that the economies of the two countries are interlinked, he stated that the real need of the hour was to diversify the bilateral trade basket.

The top 20 items in the bilateral merchandise trade basket currently accounts for close to 90 percent of the total.

Shriram stated that some of the measures announced by President Obama such as the US EXIM Bank's programme to extend USD 1 billion in loans to help promote US companies export to India, OPIC's programme to enhance lending to small businesses in the US seeking to do business in India as well as the US Trade Development Authority's plan to extend loans worth USD 2 billion for investment in renewable energy would all go to reverse this trend.

He also hoped that the newly announced US - India Strategic and Commercial Dialogue will convene soon to chart out the path for enhanced US - India bilateral economic cooperation.

The CII president also welcomed Prime Minister Modi's commitment to making the business environment in India easier and more predictable. In this regard, he welcomed the new cell being set up in the PMO to fast track US investments in India.

It is these steps, Shriram pointed out, that will help step up the US's engagement in the Indian economy.