US ASIA BUSINESS FORUM (USABF) , hosted it's inaugural US Delegation to India yesterday at the Hotel Ashoka in Delhi.Honorable Minister , Mr Das Munshi hoped the USABF would play the role of a catalyst and will act as a bridge to harmonise the activities of FICCI, CII & ASSOCHAM. The list of other VVIP's who addressed the gathering from US and Canada were Honorable Chief Minister of Delhi, Mrs Sheila Dixit, and Honorable Minister of Urban Development, Mr Ajay Maken, Mr Rambabu Sharma, President of the Delhi Pradesh Congress Party, Mr John Fennerty, Deputy Economic Counsellor, Embassy of The USA just to name a few.
US Asia Business Forum (a non-profit organization) based in Los Angeles California has led a successful trade delegation from US to India consisting of investors from areas of Entertainment, IT, Banking & Financial Services, Healthcare, Real Estate and Construction. This delegation consisted of well known names of US like Ramesh Kapur - Chair of the DNC, Nirmal Sinha – PBD 2007 Awardee and more than 30 other entrepreneurs from US & Canada. Agreements worth more than US$ 2 Billion were signed between various companies from India & US.
Mr Kishore (Kevin) Kaul & Mr Gurbax Bhasin, Executive Directors, US Asia Business Forum in their inaugural welcome addresses in the presence of more than 200 well known personalities from US & India and press from all over the globe said that these attempts being made by US Asia Business Forum will strengthen trade relations between US & India.
Mr. Priya Ranjan Dasmunsi, Minister for Information and Broadcasting today expressed the confidence that by the end of the 11th five year plan, India would be at par with the best nations in the world and said that its relations with USA would go beyond expectations.
Mr. Munsi who was speaking as a Chief Guest at the Reception hosted by Federation of Indian Exports Orgnisation and US Asia Business Forum (India Chapter) in honour of the visiting US Trade Delegation said that India’s progress by the end of this period would not only remain confined to basic engineering, IT and other service industries alone, but also see an agricultural boom which will transform the face of the country.
Talking about films he said that his Ministry had set up five committees to recommend expansion and growth of the film industry and production of quality films. He said a special training was being given on screen writing through a Mumbai based institute run by Subhash Ghai (Famous Film Director) in collaboration with Maharashtra Government. He admitted (in reply to a question from the audience) that there was some deficiency in this field.
John Fennerty, Deputy Economic Counsellor, Embassy of The USA, said that the relations between the USA & India (which were on the fast track), would reach “a new historic level” in the coming years. He expressed his confidence that India, China & USA would become the biggest economic powers in the next 10 years.
Mr. Kevin Kaul, Executive Director of USABF gave a brief about the activities of the Forum followed by a video presentation to emphasize its role in promoting trade and other relations between US & India.
Mr. Krishna Shah a Film Producer from Los Angeles saw a big connection between Hollywood & Bollywood and said that the two (which were constantly in touch with each other) had a great future with their counterparts in France and England having failed to make any big impact.
The Urban Minister, Mr. Ajay Maken, has disclosed that his Ministry had asked all the states to modify or do away with the rent control and urban ceiling acts making investment in real estate safe and secure for the investors.
Mr. Maken, who was speaking as a Chief Guest at the second session of the Reception yesterday hosted by the Federation of Indian Export Organisations and US Asia Business Forum (India Chapter) in honour of the visiting US-India trade delegation also made a fervent appeal to POI’s and NRI’s to avail themselves of 100% FDI permitted in real estate and construction sectors.
He said while tax incentives were proposed to be given in economic zones in India, particularly to POI’s and NRI’s, taxes were already the lowest in India compared to other countries in the world. Giving an instance he said while the tax, GDP ratio was 22% in China, it was only 8.8% in India. Mr. Maken said that strong judiciary, alert media and active democracy alongwith rule of law well protected the interests of the investors. He said the protection now available to the tenants would be withdrawn under the New Master Plan which is coming up in Delhi by the end of this month. He said that at the moment 300 million persons lived in the urban areas in India but their number would swell to 1.4 billion by 2050.
Mr. Subhash Goyal, President of US Asia Business Forum – (India Chapter) regretted that even when India had made a lot of progress in different fields, its 300 million people still lived below the poverty line and there was wide spread unemployment in the country, particularly among the youth. He said the action plan suggested by him in his book entitled “Poverty Eradication and Economic Development through Tourism” could create 100 million jobs in the next 20 years.
Mr. J.C. Sharma, a former Diplomat, traced the entire gamut of Indo-US Relations since the country achieved Independence and said never was there the time as now for “close, friendly and constructive ties” between the two countries. He said the complimentarity of interests between the two countries should not remain limited to information technology but be replicated in bio-technology, health care and other spheres of economic activity.
Mr. Ramesh V Kapur, a prominent member of the delegation, explained how he and his group had lobbied with the US senators and US Congressmen for bringing the recent US Nuclear deal to its logical conclusion.
Mr. Kevin Kaul, and Mr. Gurbax Bhasin (Executive Directors) spoke about the role played by the US Asia Business Forum in expanding the trade relations between the two countries.
A presentation on Incredible India was made on behalf of Ministry of Tourism by Rajvir Mittal, Regional Director – North India.
The delegation was treated at Tea by the Delhi Chief Minister Mrs. Shiela Dixit in the evening.
Mr. Gurbax Bhasin also Executive Director US Asia Business Form gave a vote of thanks.
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USABF hosted it's inaugural US Delegation to India