India Inc hails Trump's visit; hopes to raise India-US economic engagement

India Inc on Tuesday said that trade and investment relations between India and the US have received a major boost with the visit of President Donald Trump. Industry body Assocham`s Secretary General Deepak Sood said the two-way engagement of about $160 billion can be doubled within the next 4-5 years.

"With a rising economy and aspiration of 1.3 billion people, India has emerged as a key and strategic partner for the US even as the US remains the most important and promising destination for Indian exports of goods and services. President Trump aptly described India as a `tremendous market`," Sood said.

Similarly, PHD Chamber of Commerce and Industry`s President D.K. Aggarwal said that both the countries have significant potential to enhance trade and investment trajectory between the two economies.

Based on strong complementarities and growth prospects, the bilateral merchandise trade between India and the US is likely to cross $100 billion by FY2021, Aggarwal said.

"There is a need to outline the contours for a sustainable trade negotiation between the two countries which is broad based and encompasses wide ranging potential sectors of development," Aggarwal was quoted as saying in a statement.

In so far as the trade deal is concerned, Assocham`s Sood said, "While a structured bilateral agreement, still underway, would turbocharge the economic engagement, the mutual businesses are progressing apace anyway. Energy partnership is a new and fast-growing area of bilateral cooperation while lot more is expected in exchange of technology."

On its part, the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) in association with US India Business Council (USIBC) launched a `$500 billion Roadmap`, a report that provides an assessment of current trends in US-India trade and the policy reforms needed to set business ties on a faster growth trajectory.

Specifically, the report lists out 13 policy interventions to help boost trade between the two economies.

Besides, India finalised a $3 billion defence deal with the US for the purchase of military equipment, including Apache and MH-60 Romeo helicopters.

According to a Boeing statement: "We welcome India`s decision to acquire six AH-64 Apache helicopters and lifecycle services support for the Indian Army.

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"Through our local entity, Boeing Defence India, we are supporting the P-8I, C-17, CH-47 Chinook and AH-64 Apache with holistic lifecycle support to assist with India`s defence modernisation effort and mission-readiness at competitive costs."

In addition, the two sdies signed three MoU`s in health and oil sectors, amongst others.