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Modi woos top US CEOs in diverse sectors

Indian prime minister Narendra Modi meets General Atomics CEO Vivek Lall in Washington DC on September 23, 2021. (ANI Photo)

By: Shubham Ghosh

INDIAN prime minister on Thursday (23) chief executive officers (CEOs) of five leading US firms in Washington DC, hours after arriving in America for his seventh tour since taking office in 2014.

He met the corporate leaders in one-on-one meetings and spoke with them on a range of issues, including drones, 5G technology, semi-conductor and solar and asked them to invest more in India.

“Talking technology…,” the prime minister’s office said in a Twitter post after Modi met Qualcomm CEO Cristiano Amon and First Solar CEO Mark Widmar.

ALSO READ: Two Indian-Americans among five CEOs Modi meets in US

“PM Modi highlighted the vast opportunities India offers. Mr. Amon expressed keenness to work with India in areas such as 5G and other” Digital India efforts, it added.

Qualcomm, which started its operations in 1996, has operations specialising in wireless modem and multimedia software, Digital Signal Processing (DSP) and embedded applications, and digital media networking solutions. Modi spoke with Amon on investment opportunities in India’s hi-tech sectors.

“Toward making India a global innovation hub!” India’s external affairs spokesperson Arindam Bagchi tweeted. The Prime Minister had a conversation with Amon on investment opportunities in hi-tech sectors in India.

“Powering India’s Solar Potential!” Bagchi said after Modi’s meeting with Widmar. They discussed India’s renewable energy landscape. Widmar shared plans to use the PLI (production linked incentive) scheme for manufacturing solar power equipment with unique thin-film technology; and integrating India into global supply chains, Bagchi said in a tweet.

During the meeting, the prime minister spoke about India’s efforts to harness solar energy, including the ‘One world, One sun and One grid’ initiative and investment opportunities in the sector, his office said in a tweet.

Discussions also took place about First Solar’s interest in setting up manufacturing facilities in India using their unique thin-film technology by availing the recently launched the PLI scheme, as well as integrating India into global supply chains, it added.

In his meeting with Adobe CEO Shantanu Narayen, Modi talked about Adobe’s ongoing activities in India and future investment plans, Bagchi said.

“Ideas to leverage Digital India flagship programme in sectors like health, education and R&D were also discussed,” he said.

After North America, India represents Adobe’s biggest operations with over 6,000 employees across its campuses in Noida and Bangalore. India also serves as an innovation hub for Adobe, with the Indian R&D team contributing to development of every Adobe product.

Modi also met Vivek Lall, chief executive of General Atomics, and Stephen A Schwarzman from Blackstone.

He discussed with Lall India’s strides in drone technology, including the path-breaking reforms and PLI scheme, the PMO said in a tweet.

“They spoke about strengthening the defence technology sector in India. Lall appreciated the recent policy changes to accelerate defence and emerging technology manufacturing and augment capacity building in India,” the external affairs ministry said.   General Atomics, which opened its first office in India in 2018, is making key contributions to deepen India-US defence and security cooperation. General Atomics has also helped Indian companies to develop solutions for Indian defence as well as capacity building.

“India remains an attractive investment destination! PM @narendramodi met Mr. Stephen Schwarzman, CEO @blackstone. Discussed ongoing projects and further investment opportunities in India, including under the National Infrastructure Pipeline and National Monetisation Pipeline,” Bagchi tweeted.

Blackstone started its operations in India in 2006 and has so far invested in various sectors including private equity, real estate, education, fashion, packaging and housing finance.

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