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October 3, 2019
US-India Trade "Surging" Amid Torrid Times, Global Leaders Tell World Economic Forum's India Economic Summit 2019
Photo: Sania Mirza, Sportsperson and UN Women Goodwill Ambassador for South Asia, India; Cultural Leader, speaking during the Session “Opening Plenary” at the India Economic Summit 2019 in New Delhi, India. 03 October 2019. Image provided by & copyright © World Economic Forum / Benedikt von Loebell.
Photo: Smriti Zubin Irani, Minister of Women and Child Development, and Textiles, India, speaking during the Session “Inspiring LeadHers, Aspiring Outcomes” at the India Economic Summit 2019 in New Delhi, India. 03 October 2019. Image provided by & copyright © World Economic Forum / Benedikt von Loebell.
Photo: Sarah Zhang Jiachen, Founder and Chief Executive Officer, Guangzhishu, speaking during the Session “India’s Tech Leap” at the India Economic Summit 2019 in New Delhi, India. 03 October 2019. Image provided by & copyright © World Economic Forum / Benedikt von Loebell.
Photo: Devina Gupta, Anchor, BBC World News, India, speaking during the Session “India’s Tech Leap” at the India Economic Summit 2019 in New Delhi, India. 03 October 2019. Image provided by & copyright © World Economic Forum / Benedikt von Loebell.
Photo: Pritika Mehta, Global Shaper, Chandigarh Hub, India, speaking during the Session “India’s Tech Leap” at the India Economic Summit 2019 in New Delhi, India. 03 October 2019. Image provided by & copyright © World Economic Forum / Benedikt von Loebell.
Photo: Hindol Sengupta, Editor-at-Large, Fortune India; Young Global Leader, speaking during the Session “Depopularizing Populism” at the India Economic Summit 2019 in New Delhi, India. 03 October 2019. Image provided by & copyright © World Economic Forum / Benedikt von Loebell.
Photo: Suhasini Haidar, Diplomatic Editor, and Deputy Resident Editor, The Hindu, India, speaking during the Session “The Infrastructure Enigma” at the India Economic Summit 2019 in New Delhi, India. 03 October 2019. Image provided by & copyright © World Economic Forum / Benedikt von Loebell.
Photo: Vani Kola, Founder, and Managing Director, Kalaari Capital, India, speaking during the Session “Bigger, Faster, Better?” at the India Economic Summit 2019 in New Delhi, India. 03 October 2019. Image provided by & copyright © World Economic Forum / Benedikt von Loebell.
Photo: Amishi Parasrampuria, Global Shaper, Mumbai Hub, India, speaking during the Session “Maxing Out Consumption” at the India Economic Summit 2019 in New Delhi, India. 04 October 2019. Image provided by & copyright © World Economic Forum / Benedikt von Loebell.
Photo: Suvir Saran, Chef, and Author, India; Cultural Leader, speaking during the Session “Connecting Cultures” at the India Economic Summit 2019 in New Delhi, India. 04 October 2019. Image provided by & copyright © World Economic Forum / Benedikt von Loebell.
Photo: Subrahmanyam Jaishankar, Minister of External Affairs of India, speaking during the Session “An Insight, An Idea with Subrahmanyam Jaishankar” at the India Economic Summit 2019 in New Delhi, India. 04 October 2019. Image provided by & copyright © World Economic Forum / Benedikt von Loebell.
New Delhi, India, 03 October 2019 - Leaders from the world’s two largest and oldest democracies played down talk of “torrid times” over trade at the opening day of the 2019 India Economic Summit in Delhi. Instead, they noted that relations between the two nations are robust and on the up.
“The torrid times in our relations could also be a torrid love affair,” declared Piyush Goyal, Minister of Commerce and Industry and Minister of Railways of India, at the summit. “Relations between the Indian government and the US government, at our level and the people-to-people level, are better than ever before.”
Goyal noted that trade between India and the US is robust and growing. It is happening amid rising trade tensions between China and the United States and the ripple effect of that on the global economy.
Goyal said, in the last year, imports from the US to India have grown 30%, while exports from India to the US have increased by 20%.
Wilbur Ross, Secretary of Commerce of the United States, responded to the criticism that no trade deal resulted from a meeting in September between India and the US. Ross said he saw no reason why we could not reach one soon.
“Neither government said there would a trade deal in five minutes,” he noted. “I think that was just speculation. We do think there is no fundamental reason why there can’t be one pretty quickly.” “Now that the election is over, and Prime Minister Modi has a strong position in the parliament, it should be a lot easier to take decisive action,” he said.
The relationship between India and the US has the potential to be one of the greatest of the 21st century, but global leaders speaking at the summit acknowledged there would be challenges ahead. India has an important role to play in the geopolitics of the region, and that positioning will inevitably lead to a sensitive question as to how to develop its relationship with China.
“India will have to decide for themselves their relationship with China in a larger context. India and China are trading partners, they are neighbors, and they have a huge population,” said Sunil Bharti Mittal. Mittal is Chairman of Bharti Enterprises. “India will take this advice carefully, but a decision will have to be taken critically by India,” he said. “My view is they should be in play.”
With US companies being encouraged to shift manufacturing outside China, there is an opportunity for a fundamental recasting of global supply chains. Indian industry is ready to take on the challenge to increase its competitiveness, said Vikram Kirloskar. Kirloskar is President of the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) and Vice-Chairman of Toyota Kirloskar Motor.
“Over the last 20 years, we have become part of the global supply chain. To a large extent, a lot of the automotive components we are exporting are fairly competitive now,” said Kirloskar. “I think we are ready to increase capacity more, and we need the domestic market to increase as well as exports. For us, regional cooperation is also crucial.”
The World Economic Forum’s 33rd India Economic Summit is taking place in New Delhi from 3-4 October under the theme “Innovating for India: Strengthening South Asia, Impacting the World.” The two-day meeting will convene more than 800 leaders from the government, the private sector, academia, and civil society. The aim is to accelerate the adoption of Fourth Industrial Revolution technologies throughout South Asia and make the most of the region’s distinctive demographic dividends.
|GlobalGiants.Com|
Edited & Posted by the Editor | 12:25 PM | Link to this Post
