India-US economic relations in the form of bilateral investments and trade constitute important elements in India-US bilateral relations particularly because India is now the second fastest growing economy in the world and USA is the world’s largest economy.  India and the US have multi faceted relations ranging from political, strategic to economic and commercial.

Reforms introduced have radically changed the course of the Indian economy and led to gradual integration with the global economy. The effects of these reforms on trade and investment relations with the United States have been profound. USA is a major investing country in India in terms of FDI approvals, actual inflows, and portfolio investment. US investments cover almost every sector in India, which is open for private participants. USA is also India’s largest trading partner. Since 2000, the two countries have been making efforts to strengthen institutional structure of bilateral economic relations by means of the “India-US Economic Dialogue” that aims at deepening the Indo-American partnership through regular dialogue and engagement.

There are several areas where economic cooperation between India and the US can progress further. These include infrastructure, IT, Telecom sector, energy and other knowledge industries such as pharmaceuticals and biotechnology.

Closer economic ties in infrastructure sector can yield mutual benefits to both the countries. The Government of India is continuously reviewing its policies to create an investor friendly environment in sectors such as roads, ports and airports. Private sector participation in management, BOT projects, green-field airports, terminals and shipping berths and capacity augmentation has been initiated.

Today, nearly two in five of the Fortune 500 companies outsource their software requirements to India. Abundant investment opportunities exist for further strengthening Indo-US economic ties in the IT sector, especially, in areas like communication infrastructure, optic fiber cable, gateways, satellite-based communication wireless, IT-enabled services, IT enable education, data centers and server farms, and software development.

As of now, Indian corporates/Registered partnership firms are allowed to invest in entities abroad upto 400% of their net worth and are permitted to make overseas investments in any bonafide business activity. The overall annual ceiling on overseas investment and also the requirement of prior approval of RBI for diversification of activity and for transfer by way of sales of shares have been done away with. The basic rationale for opening up the regime of Indian investments overseas has been the need to provide Indian industry access to new markets and technologies with a view to increasing their competitiveness globally and help the country’s export efforts.

US-bound investment from India has increased significantly since 2002, growing by about 75% on average per year.

IACC is organizing its Annual flagship event – 7th Indo-US Economic Summit: Creating Bonds on 11-12 February 2011 at Hotel The Lalit, New Delhi.

Mr Montek Singh Ahluwalia, Dy Chairman, Planning Commission has kindly consented to deliver the Inaugural Address on 11th February 2011.

Mr Virbhadra Singh, Hon’ble Minister, Ministry of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises, GOI will deliver the Keynote Address during the Session on SMEs.