Ritu Jha–
“India is aiming to achieve $1 trillion in exports of both goods and services, and we need to enhance our exports to the largest market which is the US,” said Dr. K. Srikar Reddy, the Consul General of India in San Francisco while speaking to venture capitalists, entrepreneurs and CXOs at the TiE Silicon Valley holiday event held December 8 in Palo Alto California.
He said Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi has called upon all Indians in India and abroad to enable the country to become developed by 2047. “You can be part of this Indian growth story, invest in India, and through knowledge transfer, and mentoring startups you can be part of this journey of India,” said Consul General Reddy said. “While the US is the largest trading partner of India and the third largest investor in India, Indian exports as a percentage of US imports is hardly 2%. When we compare with China it is around 16-17%.”
During his short speech, he also talked about India-US cooperation in the semiconductor sector, innovation, renewable energy, supply chain and emphasized on the Indo-Pacific cooperation.
He said, “There are more opportunities for collaboration between the Pacific coast in the US and India. That’s why we had this initial ministerial meeting held in Los Angeles last year, and recently the third ministerial was held in San Francisco, where one agreement on the supply chains was already signed and two other agreements on clean economy and fair economy were concluded.”
These agreements also provide a lot of opportunities for collaboration between companies based in the US and India, especially in the sectors of renewable energy, electric vehicles, and other areas. This can reduce the carbon footprint even in heavy industries, and aluminum and steel industries.
“We encourage you to look forward to opportunities to invest in India,” the Consul general stressed.
“India and the US have constant exchange at the ministerial level. In November 2023, we had a big delegation led by the Commerce and Industry Minister of India, Piyush Goyal. He participated in the Indo-Pacific Economic Forum Summit and the APEC Summit,” said Consul General Reddy.
While talking about the India-US initiative on critical and emerging technology, he said that a lot of emphasis is being laid on cooperation in semiconductors.
“There are already a lot of companies based in California that are investing in India’s semiconductor sector. When the Commerce and Industry Minister visited San Francisco a couple of weeks ago, he and the Commerce Secretary of the US, Gina Raymondo, signed an MoU to enhance innovation ecosystems through an innovation handshake.”
The second innovation handshake is scheduled to be held in Silicon Valley. An investment forum and a hackathon will be held at the event where startup entrepreneurs from both countries will share ideas on how to resolve the challenges faced by the US, India, and other countries across the globe.
Consul General Reddy urged TiE members to support the initiative.
“We will look forward to support from all of you. We look forward to cooperating with you during innovation handshakes to promote entrepreneurship between our startup ecosystems in the two countries and also under the Quad and the Indo-Pacific framework,” he added.
Consul General K Srikar Reddy urges American entrepreneurs to invest in India at TiE Silicon Valley event
