Modi in US: Top CEOs pledge more investments, R&D in India

Top US corporate honchos pledged more investment, research and development and increased presence in India during their meeting with Prime Minister Narendra Modi who is in the US to participate in the United Nations General Assembly and also participate in the first-ever physical summit meeting of the Quad leaders, comprising four nations, India, USA, Australia and Japan.

Washington: Top US corporate honchos pledged more investment, research and development and increased presence in India during their meeting with Prime Minister Narendra Modi who is in the US to participate in the United Nations General Assembly and also participate in the first-ever physical summit meeting of the Quad leaders, comprising four nations, India, USA, Australia and Japan.

According to official sources, Prime Minister on Thursday met with Cristiano Amon, CEO of the world’s largest mobile device chipmaker Qualcomm, the company has a huge presence in India and does research and development here.

In addition to Qualcomm CEO, Prime Minister Modi also met Shantanu Narayen, Indian origin CEO of the world’s largest photo and video editing software company Adobe. In the series of meetings, Prime Minister also met with Mark Widmar, CEO of First Solar.

During his meeting with Prime Minister Modi, Qualcomm CEO Amon expressed his company’s willingness to work with India’s ambitious digital programmes such as the fifth-generation (5G) telecom services, PM WANI and others.

In his interaction with PM Modi, Amon talked about the opportunities available in India and said the company not only looked at India as a big market but as a big export market as well.

“It’s the right time for India to not only manufacture for the Indian market but also plan to serve the need of other countries,” Amon told Prime Minister Modi.

The Qualcomm boss also expressed the desire to work with India in the field of semiconductors.

Prime Minister Modi assured the Qualcomm CEO that his government will proactively work on the proposals made by the chipmaker.

According to sources, the Prime Minister stressed that India has the scale for ambitious projects and urged the company to actively participate as it did in the case of India’s own navigation system NAVIK.

Talking about the Indian talent working with Qualcomm, Prime Minister Modi urged the chipmaker to take advantage of India’s production linked incentive scheme and manufacture in the country.

“PM also spoke about the new liberalised drone policy & said that Qualcomm could take part in new opportunities in the new emerging market,” a source told ETV Bharat.

India’s solar push

During his meeting with Prime Minister Modi, CEO of First Solar, Mark Widmar praised the efforts made by India in the field of climate change.

Widmar, who heads the world’s second-largest solar panel manufacturer, discussed how to manufacture photovoltaic solar panels in India.

According to sources, Prime Minister Modi the One World, One Sun and One Grid initiative and its potential. He also talked about India’s ambitious target of 450 GW of renewable energy.

Prime Minister invited the American solar panel manufacturer to take advantage of production linked scheme and manufacturing in the country.

PM Modi also discussed India’s green hydrogen mission with First Solar CEO.

Adobe CEO calls India investment a secret weapon

PM Modi had a productive meeting with Shantanu Narayen, CEO of Adobe. Shantanu Narayen appreciated the efforts of India in fighting COVID and particularly in the rapid vaccination.

He expressed interest to contribute to India’s 75th anniversary of independence. He expressed his desire to bring video, animation to every child in India.

PM said that bringing bring smart education to every child is important & that makes the technology very important. He said that in the COVID era, the ground for digital education has been laid and we should move forward now.

PM and the CEO of Adobe both emphasised creating few centres of excellence in AI in India.

India has been our best market for investment in the world: Blackstone CEO

PM Modi had a productive meeting with Stephen Schwarzman, CEO of Blackston.

Mr Schwarzman informed of Blackstone’s investment in India and their plans to further ramp it up.

PM said that there is huge scope for further expansion of Blackstone’s partnership in India and elaborated on the reforms done in India. He specifically spoke about Asset Monetisation and Bad Bank.

Mr Schwarzman said that he is very optimistic about India’s potential and added that it is one of the fastest-growing countries in the world. He also appreciated the reforms undertaken by India.

India’s policies and reforms in the field of drones are laudable: General Atomic CEO

PM had a fruitful meeting with Vivek Lall, CEO of General Atomic. PM spoke about India’s liberal drone policy and the opportunity in the field of manufacturing due to PLI scheme. Mr Vivek Lall also said that India is an attractive destination for the manufacturing of drones. He also said that a Dedicated drone hub can be created in India to support the entire ecosystem of drones.

India’s Space reforms were appreciated by Mr Vivek Lall.