Political India: Engaging America

From The Hindu

India-based companies with United States operations actually saved, through their acquisition of U.S. firms, 2,585 jobs from being eliminated during the global economic downturn, a new survey by the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) has found. Further, the survey suggested that 35 top Indian companies in the U.S. employ over 60,000 people across 40 states and over 80 per cent of these are local hires.

Unveiling the insightful and wide-ranging survey, Indian Roots, American Soil, at a star-studded event at the U.S. Capitol Building on Wednesday, Indian Ambassador to the U.S., Meera Shankar said, “Indian businesses have cooperated with U.S. companies in developing globally relevant products, processes and technology solutions.”

Ms. Shankar noted that these companies, which span a diverse range of sectors from services to manufacturing, had not only generated and sustained thousands of direct and indirect jobs in the U.S., but had also “contributed to the global competitiveness of U.S. companies.”

The survey’s results show progress made even since U.S. President Barack Obama’s November 2010 visit to India, which saw the inking of trade and commercial deals exceeding $14.9 billion in value with $9.5 billion in U.S. exports leading to the creation of an estimated 53,670 U.S. jobs.

Some of the results are likely to dispel concerns expressed by Senators last year about U.S. jobs being lost through outsourcing to countries such as India — in particular, the evidence showing the number of jobs saved and created on U.S. soil. Expressing optimism about the future of the bilateral relationship Senator John Cornyn, Republican of Texas and co-Chair of the Senate India Caucus said, “The relationship between the U.S. — the world’s oldest democracy — and India — the largest democracy — has grown by leaps and bounds in recent years.”

Senator Cornyn further said that trade in goods and services between the two countries had grown “exponentially”, and created economic opportunities in both nations.

Kiran Pasricha, Deputy Director General of CII underscored the fresh perspective that the survey results provided on Indian companies in the U.S. She said, “This is CII’s first major attempt in bringing together Indian companies with operations in the U.S. as a group, to interact with members of the U.S. Congress.”

Ms. Pasricha also said to The Hindu that Congressional leaders were increasingly becoming aware of Indian companies’ footprints in their own districts, and this awareness would help further improve the prospects for Indian companies that sought to make investments in U.S. states in the future.

Among the major companies involved in the event on Capitol Hill this week were Bharat Forge, Essar Americas, Export-Import Bank of India, HCL America, Infotech Enterprises, Infosys, Larsen and Toubro Ltd., Larsen and Toubro Infotech, Larsen and Toubro Hydrocarbons IC, Mahindra Satyam, Mahindra USA, Mindtree, Polaris, Ranbaxy, State Bank of India, Tata Communications, Tata Consultancy Services, Taj Hotels, Resorts and Palaces, Tata Sons, Welspun, Wipro, Wockhardt, and Zee TV.