India's growth opening door of unprecedented opportunities: US

Washington: Many regions of India continue to grow rapidly and are opening door for "unprecedented" opportunities for American companies, US Commerce Secretary John Bryson has said. Bryson, who was on a visit to India last week with a 16-member business delegation, said yesterday that his three-city India trip laid groundwork for a greater US-India trade and business partnership. "During last week's trade mission, we took concrete steps toward strengthening our commercial relationship with India," Bryson said in a statement on his return from India. Bryson traveled to New Delhi, Jaipur and Mumbai wherein the focus was on the India's need in the infrastructure sector. In the next five years, India is planning to invest USD 1 trillion in the infrastructure sector. "American business leaders connected with Indian firms to create new opportunities in India's rising infrastructure and renewable energy sectors. We met with government and business leaders and laid out our goals, as well as our concerns," he said. "We saw first-hand how India's many regions continue to grow rapidly opening the door for unprecedented opportunities. We launched a promising new partnership to bring more Indian visitors to the United States. These developments lay the groundwork for US companies to increase exports, attract greater investment, and create good jobs here at home," said the US Commerce Secretary. On his first trip to India as the country's Commerce Secretary, Bryson, and his delegation met with senior-level Indian government officials to advocate for US export opportunities in India's rapidly expanding infrastructure sector, promote investment opportunities in America, and encourage more Indian travelers to visit the US. The trade mission supported two of US President Barack Obama's priority initiatives: SelectUSA, the first coordinated effort by the US government to attract new business investments to America, and the National Export Initiative, an effort to create more good-paying jobs by doubling US exports by the end of 2014. During the mission, the delegation of US companies participated in meetings with Indian firms in an effort to promote their technologies and services in the Indian market, and support job creation at home. "Being a part of the trade delegation to India accompanying Commerce Secretary John Bryson on his first official visit was both positive and productive. Our hosts in New Delhi, Jaipur, and Mumbai were extraordinarily gracious in welcoming us, and it is gratifying to be a formative part of what President Obama referred to as 'one of the defining partnerships of the 21st century'," said Jim Butts, senior vice president, C H Robinson Worldwide, Inc. "The overview of the economic and political situations was invaluable and reinforced our understanding of doing business in India. The dozens of meetings we had created direct and tangible results direct project leads and relationships with potential new clients evolved overnight," said Jennifer Devlin, principal, EHDD Architecture. In New Delhi, Bryson had announced that the two countries have taken steps to renew the US-India commercial dialogue, a key component of the bilateral trade relationship, for an additional two-year term. While the delegation was in Mumbai, the Board of Directors of OPIC, the US government's development finance institution, approved USD 250 million in financing to help India's Infrastructure Development Finance Corporation (IDFC) expand its lending to renewable energy projects including solar, wind and energy efficiency as well as infrastructure projects overall.