For India story, US banks on people, trade ties

Michael Pelletier

This week I was in Chandigarh to participate in an event co-organised by the CII and the US Embassy called “USA to Go,” an invitation to the Chandigarh community to come to the US to do business, to invest, study, and to travel. This outreach is in response to the strong interest that has been shown by Chandigarh residents and the people of Punjab in each of these areas. Indeed, the robust engagement from Chandigarh is part of a broader story of growth in the US-India relationship – one that is sure to deepen with time.

Trade

Among the myriad ties between our nations and people, economic and business connections have played a central role in transforming the US-India relationship over the past decade. In the year 2000, our bilateral trade in goods and services stood at $19 billion. Now, our bilateral trade in goods and services stands at more than $107 billion. We are already working with our Indian counterparts to increase that mark to $500 billion.

When we achieve this goal of $500 billion in bilateral trade, our economic relationship will be 25 times larger than it was just 15 years ago. Right now, US and Indian ventures have created over a million jobs in India and tens of thousands in the US. Another five-fold increase will link the livelihoods of millions of new workers in the US and India more clearly than ever to the success of the US-India partnership.  

Investment

The US is the world’s largest recipient of Foreign Direct Investment (FDI), and India is one of the fastest-growing sources of FDI in the US, at nearly $11 billion. Indian-owned firms in the US employ around 44,000 workers, and these firms contribute more than $2 billion to US exports.

The US welcomes more investment from India. Our Select USA programme is our first-ever whole-of-government strategy to promote, attract, retain, and expand business investment to and within the US. We are currently recruiting investors to go to our third Select USA Investment Summit in Washington DC on June 19-21, which will be attended by over 2,500 people from over 70 countries. President Obama has just announced that he will be addressing the Summit, indicating the importance that his Administration places on the programme.

Studying in the US

There are over 1,32,000 Indian students currently studying in the US, and last year the US saw record growth of 29 per cent of Indian students. Education USA, a US Department of State programme that provides information about higher education opportunities, has seven Education USA centres across India. These centres work in close collaboration with the American Embassy and consulates to help prospective students make the best possible decisions about higher education in the US.

Tourism

One of the great attractions of the US, like India, is that there are so many amazing places to travel. Increasing numbers of Indian travellers are visiting each of our 50 great states, and they are experiencing the wonder of our cities and national and state parks across the US. Travel and tourism is key to expanding our cultural and commercial ties as well as increasing economic growth. But the most important aspect of travel and tourism is not the number of dollars, but the person-to-person relationships that are cultivated.

The visa process

None of these activities will be possible without a visa. For the first time in history, Mission India processed more than one million non-immigrant visa applications in a single year in 2015. The US is open for business to deliver an efficient and transparent visa process. Consular staff in Mumbai, Chennai, Hyderabad, Kolkata, and New Delhi have risen to the challenge of a growing workload to deliver world-class service to Indian visa customers. 

The vast majority—nearly 70 per cent—of H-1B visas went to Indians last year.  Indians also received 28 per cent of all L-1 visas—more than any other country.  Our consular teams remain involved in outreach to the business community, providing information on visa requirements and the process, so that business travellers can prepare themselves for their interview.

Like me, so many of us have personal family stories that reflect the amazing expansion and deepening of the ties between our two great countries over the past few decades. I invite each of you to join our team in our commitment to carry forward the progress we have already made, and to continue the momentum from Prime Minister Modi’s visits to the US and President Obama’s visits to India.

The writer is Deputy Chief of Mission of the US Embassy in New Delhi.