India is now one of the fastest-growing investors in the United States, claims Peter Haas
India is now one of the fastest-growing investors in the United States, claims Peter Haas
He’s
a man of few words, one who’s complimented on speaking for all of ten
minutes! But he’s in awe of India. He says “this is a tremendously
exciting place to be in” and that India has a very bright future. Not
merely that, Mr. Peter Haas, the Consul-General of the United States in
Bombay, believes that “there are tremendous opportunities here and the
projections are that you will have the world’s largest economy probably
by 2030". Further, India has one of the most innovative and dedicated
workforces in the world that strives towards education, knowledge,
innovation and entrepreneurship. “I think there is no reason to doubt
the long-term future – (it’s) just a question of how fast you can go
along that route.”Mr. Haas, the guest speaker at the last
meeting, gave a very brief talk. He did not go to the lectern,
preferring instead to remain seated and hold a mike in his hand. He
spoke for hardly ten minutes and then announced that he was prepared to
take questions. Nandan Maluste, who introduced him, said that Mr. Haas
had told him that Consul work (especially the task of issuing visas) was
part of the training for foreign service officers and that it was
almost akin to what was called ragging in India. But he was primarily an
expert in economics (he did his Master’s as a Marshall Scholar at the
London School of Economics) and had earned his way to Washington after
completing his education and working in the private sector for a short
while.Mr. Haas started his talk by expressing amazement at the
timing of his address to the Club. The date had been decided several
weeks in advance – at a time when no one knew that the new US
Ambassador, Ms Nancy Powell, would have just arrived in India and that
the Secretary of State, Ms Hillary Clinton, would also be here on the
same day (she was in Delhi on Tuesday). How did you know that Secretary
of State Hillary Clinton would be here this week and that new Ambassador
Nancy Powell would have just arrived in India? The US Consul-General,
Mr. Peter Haas, wonders at the last meeting “I’m not sure how you guys
knew and whether you have a way of intercepting our diplomatic
correspondence! I congratulate you and the (programme) team and whoever
did this (selection).” The important point was that both Ambassador
Powell and Secretary of State Clinton were using their visit to
reinforce some of the important themes in US-India relations.Even
President Obama had, in the course of his visit to India, talked about
US-India relations being an “indispensable partnership” for the 21st
century. Some people had then asked where the relationship was going
both in the short as well as in the long term; now, a few had started to
question that relationship and also its direction. “But I think we need
not be concerned;two great nations that share a lot of values and
whose views would differ, as they should... but two different nations
are working closely together. “Ambassador Powell and Secretary Clinton
are emphasising the five major things that we in the United States value
as areas that we will work with India on, both for our benefit and for
your benefit, and also for the world’s benefit.”Mr. Haas said
the first area was expanding business relations between the two
countries and the second was increasing defence co-operation. When a
massive joint exercise was conducted in the Indian Ocean in April, he
had witnessed how, for the first time, an Indian helicopter had landed
on a US aircraft carrier. (That’s why) “I think it’s a great partnership
with lots of opportunities.” Increasing multilateral and international
co-operation was the third point on the agenda. Secretary of State
Clinton had said on Monday that India was already an important regional
power and was fast becoming a global power.“There are many
issues that no one country can solve on its own and that require
partnership; and because of our shared values, India will remain a
country that we will partner.” The fourth area of work was encouraging
India’s role in promoting a peaceful, prosperous and democratic Indian
Ocean and the region around it. And finally, to continuously work
together to fight terrorism. Mr. Haas said he would spend most of his
time talking about economic relations (which made sense) as they were
meeting in Bombay. The United States had started placing greater
importance of late on promoting what it called “economic statecraft”.This
was a field in which it had not always excelled in the past. It had
mainly relied on the private sector which had done a very good job of
competing and expanding internationally.However, with the
recession and the downturn in the American as well as the world economy,
the US had over the last few years been taking greater interest in
promoting trade and investment by US companies overseas. It was also
encouraging companies from other countries, including India, to invest
in the United States.The US had also started programmes to help
those seeking to invest in the US to navigate the restrictions and
obstacles there. The Consulate in Bombay had started both an investors’
council and an importers’ council to help companies that were working
with the US. New programmes had also been started to promote tourism. At
present India was placed at No. 13 in the list of countries sending the
largest number of tourists to the US. His government wanted to see
India among the top ten.Mr. Haas revealed that for the first
time last year, the returns from goods and services had exceeded $100
billion. And Indian companies derived more than 60% of their revenue
from the US which they now recognised as a very important market.Investment was picking up and India was now one of the fastest-growing investors in the United States.There
had been some amount of pessimism recently about developments in India,
but most Indian companies looking to expand internationally and to play
a more global role saw the US as a market in which they could compete.
At the same time, it was true that American companies could be quite
insular; they often developed technologies that they did not know how to
exploit. Perhaps that was why many Indian companies were going to the
United States and buying up small companies for their technology and
then employing their know-how to use that technology globally.Information technology was playinga
huge role in all this; in fact, 49% of all new start-ups, whether in
the Silicon Valley or near Washington D.C., were founded either by
Indians or by Indian Americans.Mr. Haas said that his government was also working on a bilateral investmenttreaty between the two countries.A
new model text agreement had been drawn up and discussions had been
started on it. It would help bring several changes, both for Indian
investorsin the United States and for American investors in India.
It would provide better fra |