Commerce & Industry Minister Kamal Nath launched a road show here Tuesday around the theme “Investing in America: The Indian Story” under joint leadership of US-India Business Council and the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (Ficci).

In a measure of growing US-India trade engagement, Mr Kamal Nath spoke about investment protection agreement between the two countries. “The investment protection agreement between US and India, it turns out, is going to be more for India than US,” he said in a lighter vein. “It is a different kind of agreement compared to the other countries because investments on both sides are so substantial. We hope to conclude it by end of the year.”

He said even 10 years ago not many could have imagined that Indian companies would be investing in the US. At best, he said, one could think in terms of investments in Dubai, Singapore, Sri Lanka or Bangladesh. Indian companies with a strong US presence being showcased during the two days include Bharat Forge, Essar Group, HCL America, ITC Kitchens of India, Jet Airways, Mahindra USA, Ranbaxy, Tata Group, Thermax and Wockhardt USA. Together these companies are in industries as diverse as steel, airlines, pharmaceuticals, auto parts, healthcare, hotels, chemicals and information technology. According to a study Indian companies have created 30,000 new jobs in the US.

Passing phase

The show comes at a time when the US economy is seen to be heading towards a recession, if it is not in one already. However, there are many argue that fundamentals of the US economy are strong and recession merely passing phenomenon. The show is to create awareness within the US about a significant trend of Indian companies investing in the country as a measure of their growing confidence. In that context, Ficci secretary-general Amit Mitra mentioned how Indian companies had invested $45 billion worldwide with US accounting for $10.25 billion last year.  “India is investing twice as much in the US as the US does in India,” he  added.