BOSTON/WASHINGTON, Oct 12: Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman discussed investment opportunities, reforms in India and other related issues during her meeting with leaders of global corporations, who said they were upbeat about investing in the country.
Sitharaman arrived in the US on Monday to attend the annual meet of the World Bank and IMF in Washington as well as G20 Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors (FMCBG) meeting.
During the official visit to the US, Sitharaman is expected to meet US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen.
After arriving in New York, Sitharaman travelled to Boston where she will meet investors during a roundtable hosted by FICCI and US-India Strategic Partnership Forum (USISPF) and executives of global corporations and also address students at Harvard University.
Prominent among those who met the minister in Boston were John Connaughton, co-managing partner, and Stephen Pagliuca, co-chairman, Bain Capital; Edmund DiSanto, Executive Vice President, Chief Administration Officer and General Counsel of American Tower Corporation (ATC); Prahlad Singh, President and CEO of Perkin Elmer and Dr John Ardill and Senior Vice President of ExxonMobil.
Expressing their confidence in the Indian economy and the ongoing reforms, the corporate leaders said that they were upbeat about investing in the country.
Sitharaman also attended a dinner hosted by Lawrence Summers, former Treasury Secretary, along with other eminent experts in the fields of economics, public policy, finance, and development.
“The finance minister elucidated the intent of the country to be more inclusive in development and growth,” Prahlad Singh said after his meeting with Sitharaman in Boston.
In a wide-ranging discussion with the minister, Singh stated that some of the best science graduates and skill sets that Perkin Elmer as a company leverage, come out of India.
Singh said that India’s healthcare industry is ripe for investment.
Singh added that amid the COVID-19 pandemic, products that have been developed in the company’s facilities in Goa are being used and exported outside the country for use for COVID-19 testing.
“So that’s really a very good example of how we can use and leverage the inclusive growth that the Finance Minister pointed out and what the country has been doing for using the capabilities and skill sets from India for our development as a company but also from the country’s perspective.” (PTI)