PM Modi meets CEO of General Electric Jeffrey R. Immelt

Prime Minister Narendra Modi met Jeffrey R. Immelt, Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of General Electric here today.

Both reportedly discussed further ways of expanding GE's commercial activities in India. GE has a large workforce in India, and is involved in a variety of fields, including energy, healthcare and Information Technology.

The group has plans to foray into areas like banking and real estate and construction equipment.

Prime Minister also had similar meetings with Boeing CEO James McNerney and Kohlberg Kravis Roberts and Co CEO Henry Kravis, Laurence D. Fink, CEO of the American multinational investment management firm Blackrock and CEO of IBM, Virginia Romnetty.

Earlier in the morning, Prime Minister held a breakfast meeting with CEOs of 11 top US companies, during which he is believed to have pushed India's case as the best investment destination in Asia.

Among the eleven CEOs whom the Prime Minister had met were Google's Larry Page; David M Rubenstein of The Carlyle Group; Michael L Corbat, CEO of Citigroup; Doug Oberhelman of Caterpillar; Cargill President and CEO David W MacLennan; Indra Nooyi of PepsiCo; Kenneth C Frazier of Merck; MasterCard President and CEO Ajaypal Singh Banga, AES Corporation CEO Andres Gluski, Charles R. Kaye of Warburg Pincus and Micheal Ball of Hospira - a US-based global pharmaceutical company.

These meetings are a part of Prime Minister Modi's plans to increase the share of India's manufacturing sector to 25 per cent of the GDP from 15 per cent currently. He is expected to assure the CEOs of a red carpet welcome minus the red tape.

Prime Minister Modi will meet the Clintons, former president Bill Clinton and his wife and former US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. Following which he departs for Washington in the afternoon to meet U.S. President Barrack Obama.