Agriculture, Infrastructure, Healthcare, Manufacturing
& Education Main Topics

Building Strong
Partnerships
By Dev Varam

Economic relations between India and the United States in recent years have reached such a stage that only building strong partnerships can sustain and boost them further. Hence, Indo-American Chamber of Commerce (IACC), which is holding the 4th Indo-US Economic Summit from 18 to 20 September 2007 in New Delhi, has appropriately chosen the theme - Building Strong Partnerships for the three-day annual mega event.

The 4th Indo-US Economic Summit, in which nation-building industrialists, policy and decision makers, economists and educationists make presentations and participate in brain-storming sessions, will surely lay down a roadmap for stronger partnerships between India and the United States at various levels of public and private sector and governments of both nations.
The Summit will kick off with the inaugural session on 18 September, when David Mulford, US Ambassador to India and Montek Singh Ahluwalia, Deputy Chairman of the Indian Planning Commission, addressing the delegates. Other celebrities of the day include S.S. Menon, India's Foreign Secretary and William Norbraga, CEO of Conrad Group of the US, besides Deepak Pahwa, President, IACC.
Quite logically, the first session of the summit takes up agriculture, food processing, cold chain management and food retailing in India. The topic is of great significance for India, whose economy is based on agriculture and where nearly 70 percent of the country's population depends on it for a livelihood. Subodh Kant Sahay, India's Minister of State for Food Processing Industry will participate in the proceedings. Food processing is one the areas in there is tremendous scope for foreign direct investment in view of the country's growing requirements of technology, cold storage facilities and transportation in this crucial area. In fact, Ambassador Mulford had highlighted agriculture, along with energy and infrastructure as a key area for partnerships during the 3rd Indo-US Summit in September 2006. India and the US have also signed Agricultural Knowledge Initiative (AKI) which enables this country to derive benefits from American research and technological know-how in the farm sector.
The Indian government is keen to step up agricultural growth from the tardy average of less than 2.0 percent per annum at present to 4.0 percent. For this, agriculture needs diversification, modern technology, marketing and private sector linkages. This is where the US fits in. While India is the second largest producer of fruits and vegetables, only 2.0 percent of it is processed. According to a recent study of the Indian food processing industry, the total turnover of the food market is $70 billion, of which food products constitute $22 billion. The government has been encouraging FDI and joint ventures in food and agro processing and 100 percent export-oriented units. The Summit will look at all these issues.
The second session of the Summit deals with the timely topic of healthcare; how it is viewed in India in the context of rising incomes and resultant awareness of wellness as an essential ingredient of today's lifestyle. In the last few years, India's pharmaceuticals industry has made phenomenal progress in terms of growth and several companies have established a global base for operations, marketing and future expansion. The growth of the pharma sector has coincided with the current phase of India's economic liberalization and the country's endeavour to globalize its economy. Healthcare has opened up opportunities for private investment and side by side medical tourism has begun to flourish. Issues that will come up for discussion at the Summit will include emerging trends in healthcare in India, investment opportunities that this sector offers, the debut of nano technology and opportunities and challenges in medical tourism. Naresh Dayal, Secretary in the Ministry of Health and Family Planning, Shivinder Singh, Chairman of Max Healthcare are among the panellists for discussion.
Healthcare, a $35 billion industry, is expected to grow to $ 75 billion in the next five years. The private sector today accounts for more than 80 percent of the turnover. The Indian government is engaging the private sector in delivery mechanism to achieve desired goals and improve upon macro health indicators. A wide range of Public-Private Partnerships (PPPs) have been initiated.
The third session on the Summit's second day will have Education Management as the topic of discussion. It is a fact that Indian students go to the US for higher studies in large numbers and that country remains number one destination for them to work and to settle down. Sam Pitroda, Chairman, National Knowledge Commission, will participate in the discussion on education through a video conference.
A major problem faced by industry today, particularly in the manufacturing sector, is non-availability of technically qualified people. The demand for such skilled manpower far exceeds supply. Management of Education bu providing requisite skills is the need of the hour.
It is apt to quote Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in this context. “We need to ensure far greater availability of educational opportunities at the higher levels so that we have not just a literate youth but a skilled youth, with skills which can fetch them gainful employment. As our economy booms and industry grows, I hear a pressing complaint about an imminent shortage of skilled employees. As country endowed with huge human resources, we cannot let this be a constraint.”

Infrastructure - Economy's Lifeline
The first session of the Summit's third day is devoted to infrastructure Civil Aviation and Aerospace, Roads, Ports and Real Estate. The speakers include Vivek Lall, Vice President and Country Head, Boeing, Ron Somers, President, US India Business Council.
Today, most of India's developmental programmes are depending on simultaneously building the country's matching infrastructure, which alone needs an estimated $320 billion in the next five years. Investment in infrastructure is only 5.0 percent of India's GDP and needs to be pushed up to 8.0 percent, by 2011. The break-up of the investment required immediately for building highways ($ 48.9 billion), airports ($15 billion), major ports ($11.1 billion) and minor ports ($4 billion) for upgrading them to international standards. These investments in projects spread across the country will provide opportunities for Public-Private Partnerships (PPPs).
Real estate is still in a beginning stage and hence the opportunities are immense. It is believed that investments in infrastructure will spur real estate activity. Housing requirements of this country of more than one billion population are mind-blowing. That is why the government has allowed 100 percent foreign equity in the infrastructure sector, considering its potential as a single, mega, growth engine. The Indo-US Economic Summit will address all the issues, from the point of view of opportunities, challenges, and bottlenecks.

Manufacturing
The final session of the Summit on the final day centres around manufacturing, an activity that has gathered tremendous momentum in the post liberalization era. The topic of discuss is Manufacturing in India: Leading Opportunities; to begin with, India as a manufacturing Destination for Hardware; knowledge-based Manufacturing; Outsourcing of Engineering, Design and Research & Development Services; Pertinent Legal Issues arising in Outsourcing to Indian companies.
There will be keynote addresses by leading industrialists highlighting India's business strengths and how to take advantage of them.
It is a fact that India's economic reforms initiative has life into domestic manufacturing activity contrary to fears that it will stifle life out of domestic companies. Liberalization and globalization have provided unprecedented and unlimited opportunities for the growth and expansion of Indian industries, especially the manufacturing segment. India is fast emerging both as an attractive manufacturing location as well as a market for manufactured items.
India's skilled workforce is skilled and possesses technical expertise to turn this country into a manufacturing base for hardware electronics. The country has also emerged as a base for knowledge and design-based manufacturing and a centre for Research and Development Services.
India has competitiveness in high-end manufacturing and the economy is expected to witness a boom in hardware manufacturing, especially in the IT and Telecom sectors. Major global players have already committed heavy investments in the manufacturing sector.
The Indo-US Economic Summit will delve deep into various aspects of manufacturing that needed to be spruced up for attracting more joint ventures and an uninterrupted flow of FDI.