USIBC calls for strengthening of India-US partnership

India and the US should overcome challenges and strengthen bilateral trade relationship to realise their true business potential, a top American trade advocacy group has said.
During his testimony before the US International Trade Commission on "Trade, Investment, and Industrial Policies in India: Effects on the US Economy," US India Business Council (USIBC) President Ron Somers called on both countries to overcome challenges and strengthen their partnership, a statement said.
"This will pave the way for the world's two largest free-market democracies to shape the destiny of the 21st Century - for the better," Somers said in his written remarks submitted to the USITC.

India's size, economic prominence, geopolitical influence and shared values with America make it an indispensable ally, Somers said.
Therefore any and all policy discussions about India should operate from that understanding, he argued.
The USIBC in a statement called on governments of both the countries to take steps to strengthen bilateral trade relationship so as to realise their true business potential.

With a population of 1.24 billion people, more than half under the age of 25, India is poised "to become the world's largest consumer market," Somers said.
These facts, coupled with the growth of India's middle-class present "an extremely lucrative market for American goods and services," he said.

Since President George W Bush visited India in 2006, two-way trade has grown from approximately USD 25 billion to more than USD 100 billion today.
The growth of India's civil aviation industry has been a major boon for US manufacturers.
"Entire fleets of India's new private aviation industry rely wholly on US exports and content, creating literally hundreds of thousands of jobs here in the US," Somers said.
That's just one success story of many. Another is India's telecommunication industry: After opening the market to foreign direct investment, India has become the fastest growing telecommunication market in the world, registering some 10 million cell phones every month, he said.

Somers argued that it is not all about the export and investment opportunities that benefit US businesses and create jobs for Americans, the US and India are cooperating in cyber security, national defense, higher education, clean energy, diabetes and other health issues, low-cost medical technologies, science, space and many other areas.