Washington : India is on the verge of “astounding” itself and the world as it is passionate about innovation and entrepreneurship and is experiencing a “growing vibrancy”, a top American diplomat has said.
“India is on the verge of astounding itself and the world.
And the United States is ready to be a stakeholder and partner in that future,” Assistant Secretary of State for Economic and Business Affairs Charles H Rivkin said here yesterday.
Rivkin had recently led a high-powered US delegation that included representations from corporate sector to India on the American Innovation Roadshow to promote economic growth.
The road show was on four Indian cities New Delhi, Gurgaon, Hyderabad and Ahmedabad.
“I was so impressed by what I saw,” Rivkin said in his remarks to Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), a top American think-tank.
“In every incubator we visited, members of our delegation, especially the solar companies, identified tangible commercial and investment opportunities,” Rivkin said.
Special US Representative for Commercial and Business Affairs at the State Department Ziad Haider was also part of the delegation.
“In every meeting, I experienced in a very refreshing way exactly what binds our two countries together: a shared passion for innovation and entrepreneurship. In fact, Americans and Indian entrepreneurs have become part of a shared culture that reveres innovation,” Rivkin said.
“It’s critical that we continue to support these people-to-people ties between our countries, and this growing vibrancy, not only in the clean energy space but across all sectors,” Rivkin said adding that the Modi government has set a target to reach 175-gigawatts of renewable energy by 2022.
With 80 per cent of the required infrastructure yet to be built, this is a significant opportunity for American companies and research institutions to showcase innovative technological solutions to environmental challenges, Rivkin said.
Sharing his experience of meetings with the Chief Ministers of Gujarat and Andhra Pradesh as well as the Telangana Minister for Information Technology, Rivkin said that they were all eager for private investment.
Referring to the recent decisions of Prime Minister Narendra Modi to increasingly devolve federal funding to the States and encouraging them to actively compete with one another in a “race to the top” for foreign investment, Rivkin said this new dynamic was evident in their conversations with State leaders.
“They stressed their commitment to protecting intellectual property rights for investors and entrepreneurs. And they made it clear that they were eager to help steer India away from carbon fuels to a cleaner, sustainable future,” he said, adding that the stakes for these States were enormous.
Many of these States have populations that outnumber major countries and the large scale needs that go with that. They not only have the motivation, they have the autonomy to do something about it, Rivkin said.
@ Agency report.
Noida : In a veiled dig at large corporate defaulters like Vijay Mallya, Prime Minister Narendra Modi today said while poor people are generous and honest some rich borrowers look for ways to flee after taking loans.
Addressing a function to launch government’s financial inclusion programme Stand Up India, he said under the Prime Minister’s Jan Dhan Yojana poor people were encouraged to zero balance account but they deposited Rs 35,000 crore.
“This nation has seen the generosity of poor. Rich borrowers look for ways to run away after borrowing money from banks. The poor people were required to open zero balance account under the Jan Dhan scheme.
“Look at their honesty, their self respect. They opted to put money into their accounts… Rs 50, 100, 200. The deposits exceeded Rs 35,000 crore. This is the generosity of our poor people,” Modi said.
He, however, did not name liquor baron Mallya whose group company owes over Rs 9,000 crore to 17 banks, had left the country on March 4 and currently is in the UK.
Mallya’s financial dealings are being probed by several investigative agencies, including CBI, Enforcement Directorate and tax department.
@ Agency report.
London : UK business minister Sajid Javid is rushing to Mumbai to hold crunch talks with Tata Group chairman Cyrus Mistry in an effort to save the British steel industry after the Indian steel giant decided to sell its loss making plants in the country.
But before he leaves today for the hurriedly planned India trip, Javid is also set to hold crucial talks with Indian-origin businessman Sanjeev Gupta, who has expressed an interest in acquiring Tata Steel’s embattled Port Talbot plant in South Wales.
“Many of them are loss making at the moment but we believe they can be turned around,” Gupta, founder & CEO of commodities firm Liberty House, told the BBC.
His firm is conducting due diligence of the Tata Steel operations and have held talks with the Tata Group over the prospect of acquiring the unit and saving thousands of jobs.
“If we get involved in Port Talbot we will only do so on the basis that we are confident there will not be any mass redundancies,” he said.
“We have an alternative suggestion which is to still make hot metal but to make it from local raw material rather than imported raw material, so it’s a change of technology rather than ending liquid steel making,” he added.
Gupta indicated Tata Steel s pension fund, with 130,000 members and liabilities of almost 15 billion pounds, could prove a barrier to rescue.
Meanwhile, British Prime Minister David Cameron has become personally involved in trying to work out a solution to the crisis triggered as a result of a combination of cheap imports from China, falling global demand, high energy prices and a tougher tax regime than many rival nations.
According to the ‘Financial Times’, Downing Street has indicated that under state aid rules, the UK could provide financial support for the steelmaking sites, which could include reducing pensions and energy costs.
But the government remains opposed to imposing higher tariffs on Chinese steel imports.
Cameron held a meeting with Welsh first minister Carwyn Jones to discuss how to attract potential buyers for sites such as Port Talbot. He said the UK was “doing everything it can to find a long-term, viable solution to save the Port Talbot steelworks”.
Tata Steel Europe had announced its plans to sell its UK steel business last week after a “strategic review” by its board, throwing the industry into chaos.
UK steel unions have called for state support as members of the Community, GMB and Unite trade unions held talks in London on Monday.
They urged the government to back a plan that involves 1.5 billion pounds being invested into Tata s operations over 10 years, with the government providing support for two to three years until the business is self-sufficient.
@ Agency report.