Close on the heels of his recent interaction with India Inc’s leaders here, Prime Minister Narendra Modi will convene similar meetings with multinational corporate leaders in New York to understand their concerns over investing in India and also seek their ideas to better ‘Make in India’ (MII), ‘Digital India’ and ‘Smart City’ initiatives.
Modi will meet the chiefs of around 45 MNCs, together worth around $4 trillion, in New York on September 24, sources from the Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion (DIPP) told FE. Incidentally, the informal meeting at Waldorf Astoria hotel (where Modi will be staying) over dinner coincides with the first anniversary of the MII campaign. The DIPP has been for the last one month preparing for the meet by sending out invites and getting confirmation of participation from the heads of these companies.
The MNCs are expected to raise concerns over the slow progress of negotiations on the proposed Bilateral Investment Treaty, the need for a “stronger” Intellectual Property Rights regime in India to promote and protect innovation in addition to the ‘uncertainties’ in India’s tax policies.
Corporates belonging to a variety of sectors like defence manufacturing (Lockheed Martin), automobiles (Ford), food processing (Cargill & Pepsico), pharmaceuticals (Abbott Laboratories and Merck), chemicals (DuPont) and aerospace (Boeing International and Textron) will be present. The other industries that will be represented include medical devices (Johnson & Johnson and Boston Scientific), renewable energy (SunEdison), electrical power (AES), fuel logistics (World Fuel Services), water technology (Xylem), machinery (Caterpillar), healthcare products (Henry Schein), electronics and technology (Emerson).
Also confirming participation are heads of companies in sectors such as finance (Goldman Sachs, Blackstone Group, Citigroup), travel & tourism and hotel infrastructure (Starwood Hotels & Resorts and Marriott International), consulting (EY, CH2M Hill) and online payments (PayPal).
During the session, which will be moderated by Fortune magazine editor Alan Murray, Modi will also seek ideas from chiefs of companies such as Cognizant, SanDisk, Qualcomm, Cisco Systems, GE, IBM and Intelsat on ways to improve the Digital India and Smart City initiatives.
