Modi meets leading American CEOs from five key sectors

Washington: Prime Minister Narendra Modi began his engagements in the US on Thursday by meeting with leading American CEOs from five different key sectors and highlighted the economic opportunities in India.

Modi, who arrived here on Wednesday on an official visit to the US during which he will hold the first face-to-face meeting with President Joe Biden and his deputy Kamala Harris, held one-on-one meetings with CEOs of Qualcomm, Adobe, First Solar, General Atomics and Blackstone here.

Two of them are Indian-Americans - Shantanu Narayen from Adobe and Vivek Lall from General Atomics. Three others are Cristiano E Amon from Qualcomm, Mark Widmar from First Solar, and Stephen A Schwarzman from Blackstone.

Ahead of his meeting with the business leaders, Modi had said he would interact with leading CEOs to highlight economic opportunities in India.

While Narayen reflects the IT and digital priority that the Indian government is pushing for, Modi's meeting with Lall is significant as General Atomics is not only the pioneer in military drone technologies but also the world's top manufacturer of state-of-the-art military drones, which the US shares only with its key allies and partners.

India is in the process of procuring a significant number of drones for the three branches of its armed forces. It has also leased a few drones from General Atomics.

Jakarta-born Lall, now based out of California, for over a decade has been instrumental in major bilateral defence deals worth around USD18 billion, as India and the US take steps to forge a new relationship in which defence trade is a key pillar.

As India is taking gigantic steps in the use of solar power to meet its energy needs, the meeting with Mark Widmar is important as First Solar is a leading global provider of comprehensive photovoltaic ( PV ) solar solutions, which use its advanced module and system technology.

Early this summer, the Arizona-based company announced to add 3.3 GW of capacity in a new facility in India at an estimated cost of $684 million.

Stephen A. Schwarzman is Chairman, CEO and Co-Founder of Blackstone, one of the world's leading investment firms investing capital on behalf of pension funds, large institutions and individuals.

In March this year, Blackstone announced that funds managed by Blackstone Real Estate have acquired Embassy Industrial Parks from Warburg Pincus and Embassy Group, in one of India's largest logistics transactions.

Moreover, Prime Minister Narendra Modi in his interaction with President and CEO of Qualcomm Cristiano E Amon discussed investment opportunities offered in India's telecommunications and electronics sector.

Modi, who arrived here on Wednesday on an official visit to the US during which he will hold the first face-to-face meeting with President Joe Biden and his deputy Kamala Harris, held a one-on-one meeting with Amon here.

"Talking technology... @cristianoamon and PM @narendramodi had a productive interaction. PM Modi highlighted the vast opportunities India offers. Mr. Amon expressed keenness to work with India in areas such as 5G and other @_DigitalIndia efforts," the Prime Minister's Office tweeted.

Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) Spokesperson Arindam Bagchi said that they discussed recent electronics and telecom manufacturing Production Linked Incentive (PLI) schemes; and measures to strengthen the innovation ecosystem.

"Toward making a global innovation hub! PM @narendramodi in conversation with @cristianoamon, CEO @Qualcomm on investment opportunities in hi-tech sectors in India. Discussed recent electronics & telecom manufacturing PLI schemes; & measures to strengthen innovation ecosystem, he tweeted.

"During the meeting, they discussed investment opportunities offered in India's telecommunications and electronics sector. This included the recently launched Production Linked Incentive Scheme (PLI) for Electronics System Design and Manufacturing (ESDM) as well as developments in the semiconductor supply chain in India, the ministry said in a release. Strategies for building the local innovation ecosystem in India were also discussed, it added.

Sources said Amon expressed enthusiasm to work with India on ambitious digital transformation programmes including in 5G, PM WANI and others. He also expressed interest partnering with India to work in the field of semiconductors. Prime Minister Modi assured him that India will proactively work on the proposals made by them.

He also stressed that India has the scale for ambitious projects. He said that India has prepared 5G standards and urged Qualcomm to actively participate as they did in case of NAVIK, sources said.