Obama's re-election good for India, feels business community

Mumbai: The re-election of Barack Obama as US President will be good for India and help in further strengthening bilateral ties, Indo-American Chamber of Commerce (IACC) said today. The recent wave of reforms in India, particularly in the multi-brand retail, should encourage US corporations to accelerate their investment into Asia’s third largest economy, the chamber said. [caption id=“attachment_520997” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  US President Barack Obama. AP[/caption] There is a growing number of Indian companies which have drawn up comprehensive plans to invest in the US in sectors like IT, pharmaceuticals, biotech and auto components, Nanik Rupani, newly-elected Regional President (Western India Council) of IACC, said in a statement. He said Obama, in his second term, should prioritise completion of some economic agenda attempted earlier vis-a-vis India. These include early completion of the bilateral investment agreement, restructuring of double taxation avoidance treaty and long pending totalisation agreement. “We should expand mutual economic opportunities and harness the potential in fields like science and technology, defence, nuclear and higher education,” Rupani said. Outsourcing is in the interest of both the countries, he said, adding it has not only brought down cost for companies in the US but also helped create more jobs there. “We hope the US economy would recover fast as the Indian economy was deeply integrated with it, and Obama uses the new term to push through a lot of things which he was not able to do in his first term,” he added. An important plank of the new initiatives that will be unveiled by US administration should be heightened economic engagement with India. Efforts should be made to ensure that the volume of Indo-US trade reaches $100 billion mark in the near future, he said. PTI