5 Things To Expect Out Of Modi’s Meeting With American Business Heads

After winning over thousands of Indian-Americans at the Madison Square Garden (MSG), Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi meets top American business big-wigs today in Washington to reposition India as the global brand.

The world's largest democracy looks forward to attract more overseas investors in order to boost its economy and do away with the criticism that had mounted against it under the UPA regime.

A group of 11 CEOs– including Google's Eric Schmidt, Citigroup's Michael Corbat, Carlyle Group co-CEO David Rubenstein, Cargill CEO David MacLennan, Merck CEO Kenneth Frazier, Caterpillar CEO Dough Oberhelman, MasterCard CEO Ajay Banga and Pepsico CEO Indra Nooyi– meets PM Modi over breakfast today.

Six others, who have one-on-one appointment with Modi, include Goldman Sachs's Lloyd Blankfein, Boeing's James McNerney, BlackRock's Laurence Fink, IBM's Ginni Rometty, General Electric's Jeff Immelt and Kohlberg Kravis Roberts (KKR) co-Chairmen and CEOs Henry Kravis and George Roberts, updated Syed Akbaruddin, Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) spokesperson.

Here, at Business Insider India, we predict what the Prime Minister would talk about during this much-anticipated meet.

1) Turn India into a global manufacturing hub
Business is NaMo’s mantra, and that is what we expect him to create in his meetings with global CEOs. We expect that Prime Minister Narendra Modi will try garnering support for his 'Make in India' campaign, which aims to turn the Indian sub-continent into a global manufacturing hub. The ambitious plan entails increasing the growth rate in the manufacturing sector to 10% per year and raising its share to 25%in the overall GDP. If the plan falls in place, it will create job opportunities for over 10 million people residing in the country.

2) May lift FDI cap to woo overseas investors
To turn 'Make in India' campaign into a grand success, India needs long-term foreign capital or foreign direct investment (FDI) in different sectors. In the last decade, gross FDI inflows into the nation have averaged less than 2% of GDP and the new government will have to up that figure considerably. However, it still remains to be seen how Modi government would do that. Will it lift the FDI cap to woo investors? He surely can, but let’s see if he will.

3) May try to bring clean energy in India
Modi might try to ensure gas supply from the US and seek aid in shale gas exploration. He might also try to bring in more investments in clean energy technology. India had recently done away with the anti-dumping duty on solar energy equipment to encourage the renewable energy sector, and now the focus is on tapping solar and wind energy.

4) Could address taxation issues
The biggest task that Prime Minister Narendra Modi has at hand is to convince investors on India’s commitment to faster reforms, especially those related to labour laws, land acquisition and taxation. These taxation issues have been a sore point with global investors for long. The retrospective amendment, introduced in 2012, resulted in high-profile tax enforcement actions against global companies such as Vodafone. These episodes dented India’s appeal as an investment destination, contributing to an image of India as a country that pursues “tax terrorism”.

5) Modi may clarify the new government's stand on GAAR
To bring out the investor-friendly image of the ‘New India’ under the rule of the BJP government, Prime Minister Narendra Modi might use the opportunity to clarify the central government's stand on the General Anti-avoidance Rules (GAAR), which had sparked alarm among foreign investors. The provision included tightening rules on investments from countries that have double taxation treaties with India.
(Image: Press Information Bureau)