India not yet top-of-mind for US investors

Awareness about the economic changes sweeping India was still low in the United States despite trade and commerce negotiations between the two governments, Kenneth J Juster, under secretary of commerce of USA, said in Kolkata on Wednesday.

Speaking at the annual general convention of Indo American Chamber of Commerce, Juster said presence of many tariff and non-tariff barriers in several sectors, lack of structured dispute settlement arrangements and relatively inferior intellectual property rights protection were some of the issues that kept American investors away from India.

"The volume of trade between India and US is not enough. The trade with China is higher," he said.

Juster will meet Bengal chief minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee and major industry groups over the next two days to facilitate high technology trade.

The US-India high technology cooperative group set up recently was expected to create a suitable environment for trade between the two.

Juster said, "There should be more activities from both ends. More and more entrepreneurs of the two countries should interact and convey the opportunities in exchange".

India was becoming a hub in information technology and software industry, and 'cybersecurity' could emerge as a potential area and key to US-India trade, Juster pointed out.

Speaking on the potential of West Bengal, the state's IT minister, Manabendra Mukherjee, said, "The state is emerging as the leader in IT in the country and still now in the global market, IT means USA. The state is looking forward to more investments from USA".