U.S. firms get $7b in contracts from India
U.S. firms get $7b in contracts from India
BOMBAY (AFP): U.S. Commerce Secretary Ron Brown said here
yesterday that U.S. companies had signed contracts worth a total
of US$7 billion during what he described as a "tremendously
successful" visit to India.
Brown, speaking to corporate executives in Bombay, the final
leg of his six-day visit to India, said that despite the
impressive amount of business drummed up during his mission "we
have just begun to scratch the surface."
"This is only a small start to an unlimited potential for
trade between our two countries," the U.S. commerce secretary
said to prolonged applause from the gathering of Indian business
leaders.
Brown, who met Prime Minister P.V. Narasimha Rao in New Delhi
and visited Bangalore, India's technology center, before coming
here, said Indo-U.S. trade and investment had not lived up to its
potential in the past.
"This mission has changed all that dramatically," Brown said,
lauding a "new era in Indo-U.S. relations."
"This mission has been a tremendous success," he said.
The U.S. commerce secretary said the $7 billion in contracts
signed by U.S. firms during his visit would mean more jobs,
economic growth and a higher standard of living for both Indians
and Americans.
"The work we have done will give millions of parents options
to choose," he said. "It will help India to grow and prosper."
Representatives of 26 large U.S. firms accompanying Brown
signed contracts during his stops in New Delhi, Bangalore and
Bombay for multi-million dollar projects in power, oil and gas,
telecommunications, aviation and other fields.
Among the contracts was a $700-million deal signed yesterday
between Hughes Aircraft Corp. and Afro-Asian Satellite
Communications Ltd. to set up a mobile satellite communications
system.
Finance
Earlier yesterday, during a visit to the Bombay Stock
Exchange, India's largest bourse, Brown called for a further
opening of the state-dominated financial services sector to U.S.
firms.
"I hope the banking sector here becomes less regulated and
more open to U.S. banks," he told brokers assembled in the
trading ring.
"I also hope India will allow foreign firms to trade on their
own account on the stock exchanges here," he said.
"The United States has one of the world's most competitive
financial systems," Brown said. "American banks, if allowed more
access to India, can attract more capital to this country."
Brown said that although India's leaders "had taken the
painful decision to begin and go ahead with the reform program,
more progress needs to be made, especially in the financial
services sector."
"Bombay, India's gateway to the world, has for too many years
seemed closed to American businesses," he said. "The doors have
now begun to open because of the courageous reforms begun in
India."
Brown said he was encouraged by the assurances he received
from Rao, who began stripping away the protectionist insulation
from the Indian economy more than three years ago, that the
reforms would continue.
"Those words were music to our ears," he said. "The only way
the economy of India can prosper is through liberalization."
Seeking to provide reassurance of his own to Indian exporters
worried about the formation of regional trade blocs, Brown said
that the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) did not
erect any barriers to world trade.
"With the setting up of the World Trade Organization and the
successful conclusion of the Uruguay round of talks, the next 20
years will see the elimination of trade barriers across the
world," he said.
The United States is India's largest trading partner with two-
way trade estimated at $8 billion. U.S. corporations have been
the largest foreign investors in India's liberalizing economy.