Ritu Jha–
The San Francisco Chapter of The Institute of Chartered Accountants of India (ICAI San Francisco) and the Consulate General of India San Francisco jointly hosted the Indian delegation of Directorate General of Foreign Trade that visited Las Vegas recently.
ICAI San Francisco representatives in Las Vegas helped the visitors interact and network with local entrepreneurs, businessmen, and educators.
Santosh Sarangi, IAS, Director General of Foreign Trade, Ministry of Commerce, led the textile delegation that interacted with the Indian diaspora in Las Vegas to understand the industry and its policies from India’s point of view.
Apart from Sarangi, the Indian delegation included Padmashri awardee Dr. A. Sakthivel, President of the Federation of Indian Export Organizations (FIEO).
“We spread the word among our contacts in Las Vegas through WhatsApp groups and other social media platforms. We requested businessmen, professionals, and entrepreneurs to avail of the opportunity meet with the Indian delegation and contribute to US India partnership,” said Deepa Varatkar, a Las Vegas-based Chartered Accountant and member of ICAI San Francisco told indica.
During the interaction, Sarangi took inputs from the participants and also shared insights about the Indian textile industry’s exports to the US and areas in which the two economies can collaborate, and how Nevada can contribute to sectors such as tourism and, medical tourism.
The team focused its attention on boosting import, export, the service sector, and attracting investments to India. The delegates also exchanged ideas with the participants on how the Nevada government can contribute to boosting trade and investment between India and the US.
During the US visit, Sarangi and his team also participated in the recently held Sourcing at MAGIC Expo for Trade & Fashion in Las Vegas, which showcased more than 150 booth exhibitors.
Varatkar told indica that the delegation wanted to talk to local entrepreneurs and professionals to learn about their needs and concerns, and whether they face any challenges while dealing with trade and other services regulators in India.
“The delegation wanted to know whether the Las Vegas business community representatives have any recommendations, suggestions, or ideas that they wanted to share. At the meeting, Shri Sarangi shared his vision of Indian exports and, imports. This event will prove to be a start of strong community enrichment and tie-up between the Nevada local Indian business community and the Indian consulate,” Varatkar added.
While speaking to the participants, Sarangi said that the ministry does export promotion activities and analysis of India’s export growth and passes on that information to Indian exporters.
“We also do a monthly import analysis to see where the imports are going up. The Government of India has taken up Production-Linked Incentive (PLI) schemes for 14 identified sectors. Based on this analysis the government focuses on the sectors which need to be promoted and where investment is needed.”
The Government of India expects to attract an investment of ₹70,000 crore in these 14 sectors.
“We are also trying to boost exports of the country by working with various export promotion councils. We have seen these export promotion activities bearing fruit during the last couple of years. We have recently signed Free Trade Agreements (FTA) with UAE, and Australia while FTA negotiations are in an advanced stage with UK and Canada. Our target will be to sign an FTA with the US which will mean many labor-intensive sectors like textiles and garment production, leather products, agriculture, food processing, and marine exports will get a level playing field in this market.”
ICAI and Indian mission in San Francisco host India’s DGFT delegation in Vegas
