Confederation of Indian Industry hosts India Reception at the SelectUSA Summit

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The Confederation of Indian Industry (CII), in collaboration with the Embassy of India in Washington, D.C. hosted the “India Reception” for the Indian delegation participating at the 10^th SelectUSA Investment Summit, held June 23-26, at the Gaylord National Resort and Convention Center in Maryland.

According to SelectUSA  this year’s Investment Summit attracted a record 5,000 attendees from 96 international markets and all 56 US states and territories, the highest levels of engagement to date.

Welcoming the gathering, President of CII, R. Dinesh said CII is looking forward to engaging with the US States more deeply. “We look forward to having a SelectUSA event in India, where we can bring in even more companies for investments into the US and vice versa,” said Dinesh adding that there will be a special focus on Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) this year, as over 60 per cent of CII’s members and affiliates come from the SME sector.

Assistant Secretary for Global Markets and the Director General, US and Foreign Commercial Service at the International Trade Administration, Arun Venkataraman, lauded the work of CII in strengthening the US-India partnership.

“We are grateful for the impressive Indian delegation at the SelectUSA Summit this year, which is not only the largest Indian delegation, but also the largest of any business delegation, to visit a SelectUSA summit,” Venkataraman told News India Times. “The breadth of sectors covered by the Indian delegation reflects the unlimited potential for continued growth and partnership in our bilateral commercial relationship. We look forward to working with the delegation to take advantage of the tremendous opportunities afforded by the U.S. market.”

US Ambassador to India, Eric Garcetti, offered Indian delegates the opportunity to contact any of the seven US posts in India – Ahmedabad, Bangalore, Hyderabad, Chennai, Delhi, Kolkata, and Mumbai – if they need assistance connecting with a US state or city, or navigating through the bureaucracy for planning their investments.

Talking about the strengthening of the US-India partnership, Garcetti said, “When India and the US get together, it is not India plus the US. It is not additive. It is multiplicative. It is India times the US… we have the power to make this a safer world, a more prosperous world, and a world that represents our values…”

The Indian delegation’s “degree of enthusiasm and energy every year” indicates how far we have progressed in this relationship, said Charge d’Affaires, Embassy of India, Ambassador Sripriya Ranganathan. More than 200 delegates from a range of sectors in India, such as defense, aviation, financial services, and biotechnology came to the Summit. Their networking and friendships in US, “will help us to hasten the pace of rapid transformation that is underway already in India. It will [also] enable deeper integration between the two economies [and] will also help us in taking the benefits of growth and development beyond the big cities to the next level, the two-tier and three-tier cities of India…” Ranganathan contended.

“North Carolina loves working with Indian businesses,” emphasized Governor of North Carolina, Roy Cooper while lauding the presence and work of Indian companies such as HCL, TATA, and Infosys in the State. He said North Carolina was one of the first states to have a full time Foreign Direct Investment Officer in India.

Cooper announced the formation of the “SEUS-India Partnership” saying the new pact will “promote business and trade relationships between our states and our partners in India and this is just the beginning. We hope you will join us and help make this a powerful force.”

Governor of Oklahoma, Kevin Stitt, Governor of Guam, Lourdes Guerrero, Executive Director of SelectUSA, Jasjit Singh, and others also spoke at the reception.

At the Summit, on June 25, Aditya Birla Group (ABG) also announced it will make a $50 million investment outside of Houston in the City of Beaumont.

Vice President, Aditya Birla Chemicals (USA), Scott Bastian, told News India Times “We are actually going to be building a Greenfield site, along with an Application Development Center and R&D Center to support our epoxy business within the USA” while adding this initiative will complement their existing sites in India, Thailand, and Europe, all dedicated to advanced materials in the epoxy business.

Dr. Prem Chandan, R&D Manager of the Taiwan-based GUS Technology Limited, has been looking into Virginia, Texas, Oklahoma and a few other states to expand his firm’s operations in the US.

Chandan told News India Times, “It’s a seven-year-old company and 100 per cent Taiwan-based. We are planning to have a 10-gigabit factory in the US, that’s close $2.8 billion investment. We manufacture an LTO technology Lithium battery that can actually charge in less than five minutes, can run up to 40,000 cycles, and one of the safest. It doesn’t catch fire or explode. It is more suitable for defense, and energy storage.”

Virginia State Senator, Bryce Reeves told News India Times, “Virginia has its share of Indian companies that are coming here. And part of the reason is the economic climate our Governor [Glenn Youngkin] has set to bring businesses to Virginia.”

Reeves added that the work ethic, business strategies, and self-reliance of Indian companies make them successful. India tends to send their best and brightest to Virginia, and the state is thrilled to have them here, Reeves said.

Chairman of Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry, FICCI Karnataka State Council, Ullas Kamath, who led the delegation of the Government of Karnataka and FICCI together, brought a select seven startups to the Summit.

Kamath told News India Times, “The goal is to offer guidance to these startups supported by the Government of Karnataka, by providing them with networking opportunities, access to technology, one-on-one meetings, and insights into investment potential.”