Following up on several high-level visits by Indian government officials, the U.S.-India Business Council hosted the Minister of Urban Development, M. Venkaiah Naidu in Washington, D.C. July 1, to discuss opportunities in the recently launched Government of India schemes expected to have an impact on India’s urban development for the next few years.
Naidu engaged with executives of U.S. companies on the Smart Cities program, reforms for ease of doing business, and the prospective passage of the Goods & Services Tax (GST) and Land Acquisition Bill. “India is fast transforming itself in every sphere of public life,” Naidu is quoted saying in a release from the Indian Embassy.
“The economy is back on rails, inflation is under control, and growth rate is at 7.3% and likely to cross 8% in the coming years,” he said adding that the Indian Parliament had passed a record 47 pieces of legislation in the past year, including some that had been pending for a long time, like the increase in foreign direct investment cap in the insurance sector.
He outlined the Make in India initiative which American business has been leery about, and gave some details about other programs such as Skill India, Digital India and Clean India. He also highlighted efforts to build a partnership between the Center and the States to move forward on reforms like the GST.
He noted that the Government is linking bank accounts with the unique ID and mobile telephones to stop leakage in subsidies, and focusing on greater transparency and accountability. Alongside, he emphasized, there was a need to have social security schemes and affordable housing.
He explained the guidelines used to select the 100 locations for Smart Cities and lauded the U.S. support for the development of Ajmer, Allahabad and Vishakhapatnam.
Purna Sagguti, chairman of Global Corporate and Investment Banking at Bank of America, Merrill Lynch, and a member of USIBC’s Board of Directors, said American investors were eager to be deeply involved in the Smart Cities initiative and expressed confidence in Naidu’s leadership. Mukesh Aghi, USIBC president praised India’s flagship programs but added that reforms in taxation and land acquisition remained central to the success of these schemes.
Among the companies present at the round table discussion were iTECH, IBM, Honeywell, Genworth, UTC, AECOM, Tyco, Systems Soft, Apple, AT&T, Dell, Qualcom, Cognizant, Capital Novus, Moody’s, Bank of America, and McLarty Associates.
The post Urban Development Minister Pitches India to U.S. Investors appeared first on News India Times.