India Post News Service
CHICAGO: Indian Consul General Amit Kumar addressed the participants of the event focusing on “India and Minnesota: Trade and Business Opportunities” co-organized by the Minnesota Trade Office in collaboration with the US Department of Commerce and the Indian Consulate in Chicago.
CG Amit Kumar provided a brief overview of India-US relations and outlined the priorities for India-US relations. He spoke about trade, investment, economic and commercial linkages, and about the measures taken by the government to manage the Covid-19 situation as well as further structural reforms in India. He also provided an overview of the Indian federal budget including new avenues for investment particularly in the insurance sector, focus on increasing capital expenditure and on infrastructure creation.
CG in his address also touched upon the production link incentives in 13 sectors of economy totaling around US$ 27 billion and identified a number of sectors such as electric vehicles, renewable energy, electronics, medical devices and healthcare cooperation, food processing, clean water technologies etc. where companies from Minnesota enjoy particular strength.
Underlining the fact that India is poised for economic growth underpinned through deeper structural reforms, simplifying business environment, reducing regulations, infrastructure creation, etc., he pointed out that India has jumped up 79 places from 142 rank to 63 rank over the past five years in the World Bank’s Ease of Doing Business rankings and underlined that the government is committed to further improving it. He pointed out that IMF has projected a growth of over 11% for the Indian economy this year and this will create new opportunities for US companies including from Minnesota.
Minnesota companies such as 3M, Target, Best Buy, Cargill, Medtronic, General Mills, UnitedHealth Group etc. are already present in India. CG expressed confidence that more companies will follow suit in the months ahead and that the Consulate would extend necessary facilitation in this process and will work closely with partners like Minnesota Trade Office, Department of Commerce and other stakeholders.
The event also saw presentations by Abdiwahab Mohammad, Regional Trade Manager for India, Minnesota Trade Office, Mr. Gregory Taevs, Deputy Senior Commercial Officer at the U.S. Commercial Service, US Embassy, New Delhi and Ms Megan Hyndman, Office of South Asia, International Trade Administration, U.S. Department of Commerce and Mr. Doug Jacobson, Commercial Officer, US Commercial Service, Minneapolis was also one of the speakers.
Minnesota is an important partner for India. Total bilateral trade in between India and Minnesota in 2020 was approximately 755 million.
