Notwithstanding their bitter diplomatic spat, the US and the Indian economies are so much inter-twined ASSOCHAM says that they cannot afford any distrust for the sake of a deep-rooted mutual economic interest touching lives of the people and the corporates in the world’s two largest democracies.
Almost all the top American brands from Pepsi, Coke and McDonalds to General Motors, Boeing to Microsoft are well –entrenched into a growing Indian economy that is set to only grow in terms of the consumption story of its young population. Over 95 per cent of India’s aerated beverages market is dominated by the American drink makers- penetrating to the deepest corner of the country’s hinterland.
Likewise, the chamber says, India sells 60 per cent of its USD 75 billion software and IT-enabled services to the US while half of top 20 IT companies in India are from the US, not to speak of scores of medium sized firms in different streams of businesses having set up their bases in different Indian cities – Bangalore, Chennai, Hyderabad, Pune, Mumbai, Delhi, Gurgaon and Noida.
Likewise, bulk of India’s USD 15 billion pharmaceutical exports find destinations in the US while the American goods – from high end to mid-segment are mass pervasive in the Indian markets.
We are sure that given our mutual inseparable interests, the bitter diplomatic row would not be allowed to create distrust among the people of the two countries and their business communities,†said ASSOCHAM President Mr Rana Kapoor.
In terms of merchandise exports, the US was India’s second largest destination with shipments of USD 36 billion in the financial year 2012-13. Likewise, the goods imports from the US amounted to USD 25 billion in the same period.
India is among the largest and most growing markets for the aviation sector –both civil and military. Same is the case in several other high-technology areas.
For India, the US has become a biggest destination for its over USD 100 billion IT industry while Indian students, over two lakhs, are among the largest expat pupils in some of the top American universities.
For the US, India has remained a growing market of strategic interest since the early nineties when the Indian economy was thrown open to the global investment and supply of goods and services.
“Virtually every other top American hotel chain has established its presence in India,†the paper noted stating the travel of people between the two countries has been only rising.
The ASSOCHAM President said that there is a very mature leadership in the two countries which will surely handle the present crisis. They will also ensure that no such incident is allowed to grow too big as to deviate the attention from the productive relationship to a feeling of let-down by either party.
He said the Indian industry does not want to believe that there is any possibility of the two countries getting into commercial disputes at a faster pace after the recent setback in diplomatic relations. “Commercial disputes as and when they occur are purely commercial in nature and too much cannot be read into the same. There are well established international redressal machinery available for resolving any commercial issueâ€.