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.