Obama looks for home run in India pitch-Nov 7, 2010

Obama looks for home run in India pitch

TNN, Nov 7, 2010, 01.23am IST

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MUMBAI: In the spirit of give and take, US President Barack Obama on Saturday signalled the easing of export controls on dual use technology even as he announced signing of deals worth $10 billion with US companies, something he said would create 50,000 jobs back home.

Hammered by plummeting approval rating and the loss of the House of Representatives to the Republicans, and under pressure to offer his Indian hosts something more tangible to chew on rather than soaring rhetoric, Obama used his meeting with the high priests and priestesses of India Inc to placate both constituencies — it was a dual use speech, as one person present at the gathering quipped to TOI.

His 20-minute special keynote address at the US-India Business and Entrepreneurship summit at The Trident was understandably peppered by references to creation of jobs both in the US and India and other key issues such as the need for a strong partnership between the two largest democracies of the world, developing the spirit of entrepreneurship and innovation and the need for India to lift certain trade and investment barriers.

''Even as we strengthen our national security, we should make sure that unnecessary barriers don't stand in the way of high-tech trade between our countries. We will work with India to fundamentally reform our control on exports, which will allow greater cooperation in a range of high-tech sectors to strengthen our relation,'' he said commenting on the issue of dual use technologies, something the Indian side has been lobbying for a while. He, however, in the same breath, asked the Indian side to reciprocate and reduce trade barriers. The easing of export rules could benefit entities like DRDO and Isro, which have been denied technologies from the US in the past.

But, on the whole, it was really jobs and emphasis on partnership that dominated the US president's speech, who is on a three-day maiden trip to India, which he himself described as his longest to any country, after taking over as the president.

The US president, who arrived just before noon, expressed confidence about the economic potential of the partnership and said that he was absolutely sure that relationship between the two countries was going to be one of the defining partnerships of the 21st century.

''There is no reason why India cannot be our top trading partner. Of all the goods that India imports less than 10% comes from the US. Of all the goods America exports to the world less than 2% go to India,'' Obama said. Here he mentioned that US exports to India is less than US exports to The Netherlands, a country with a population less than that of Mumbai.

Every time he made references to the potential of trade and investments between the two countries, the who's who of business from both sides, present on the occasion, clapped zealously. He drew applause even when he wished everyone a Happy Diwali at the beginning of his address. He described India as the fastest growing economy and said that the sheer size and pace of growth have been stunning in the last two decades.

Among those present from the Indian side included Ratan Tata, chairman of Tata group, Mukesh Ambani, chairman of Reliance Industries Limited, Anil Ambani, chairman of ADAG, Anand Mahindra, vice chairman and MD of Mahindra & Mahindra to just name a few. Among the 300-odd US CEOs flown in as part of a business delegation were Jeffrey Immelt, chairman & CEO General Electric, Indra Nooyi, chairman & CEO of PepsiCo, Louis Chenevert, chairman & CEO United Technologies and David Cote, chairman and CEO, Honeywell.
''Several landmark deals have been done shortly before my arrival here. Boeing is going to sell dozens of planes to India and GE is going to sell hundreds of electric engines. The deals are worth USD 10 billion and will create more than 50,000 jobs in the US,'' he said, making a strong start to his India visit.

The commercial deals include the purchase of 33 (thirty-three) 737s from Boeing by SpiceJet; the Indian Army's plans to buy aircraft engines from General Electric; and preliminary agreement between Boeing and the Indian Air Force on the purchase of 10 C17s. Just before the address at USIBC, Reliance Power announced a power equipment deal for 2,400 MW plants with GE , while low-cost carrier Spicejet announced a deal to buy 33 new generation 737 aircraft from Boeing. While the Reliance Power deal with GE is worth $750 million, the SpiceJet-Boeing deal is worth $2.7 billion.


Read more: Obama looks for home run in India pitch - The Times of India