Trump and Modi are good at surprises.
How about this? US President Trump will make his first visit to India next week and will open a new cricket stadium set to “dislodge the Melbourne Cricket Ground” as the world’s biggest cricket stadium. The Motera Stadium in Gujarat can take 110,000 spectators.
Interesting combination – look forward to seeing the Indians explaining the game of cricket to President Trump.
But sometimes these two are also predictable.
Australia knows very well the difficulty of getting a free trade deal with India – and so do the Americans (although their “America first” attitude makes negotiation difficult).
Nisha Biswal, president of the U.S.-India Business Council, said hopes were fading for the two sides to quickly bridge gaps in their efforts to restore some U.S. trade preferences for India and improve access for selected U.S. agriculture products and medical devices to India’s 1.3 billion consumers.
Still, PM Modi is good at using charm and relationship as a part of diplomacy so you can expect him to pull out all the stops for the visit of President Trump.
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Author: Stephen Manallack
Former President, Australia India Business Council, Victoria and Author, You Can Communicate; Riding the Elephant; Soft Skills for a Flat World (published by Tata McGraw-Hill INDIA); Communicating Your Personal Brand.
Director, EastWest Academy Pty Ltd and Trainer/Speaker/Mentor in Leadership, Communication and Cross Cultural Communication.
Passionate campaigner for closer western relations with India.
Stephen Manallack is a specialist on “Doing Business with India” and advisor/trainer on “Cross-Cultural Understanding”. He is a Director of EastWest Academy Pty Ltd which provides strategic advice and counsel regarding business relations with India.
A regular speaker in India on leadership and global communication, his most recent speaking tour included a speech to students of the elite Indian university, Amity University, in Noida. He also spoke at a major Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI) global summit, the PR Consultants Association of India in Delhi, the Symbiosis University in Pune and Cross-Cultural Training for Sundaram Business Services in Chennai. He has visited India on business missions on 10 occasions and led three major trade missions there. He provides cross-cultural training – Asia and the west.
View all posts by Stephen Manallack
Into India 
A trade deal is on the cards and will be singed between the USA and India when Trump visits India next week. Trump will be keen to know how Modi can make India a US$ 5 Trillion economy going forward. India to work towards the magic US$ 5 trillion economy figure. There are lessons to be learn from the USA on this aspect in view of their extensive reach globally on Trade and Investment. They essentially want to see in India the ease of business and ease of living to enable the private sector to create wealth over a long period of time. The Government of India is working rapidly to become an overseas investor friendly country, by scrapping a number of laws, procedures, rules and regulations and to digitize the Indian economy. Through a series of reforms, India has jumped up 65 positions in latest The World Bank Ease of Doing Business report. The next stage is to be within the global top 50 countries.
Indian Foreign Exchange reserves: One of the important tools to work towards a US$ 5 Trillion economy for India is to try and double it present foreign exchange holding (forex) of US$ 425 billion to about US$ 900 billion within the next 5 years. China has foreign currency reserves of US $3.1 trillion. Forex is considered a very important indicator of a country’s economic health and growth prospects. Increased forex reserves (by expanding exports massively of goods and services and seeking inward foreign remittances and foreign direct investments for viable businesses and joint ventures) allow a nation to maintain liquidity during an economic emergency. They also make a country more attractive to foreign investors as India is a consumerism oriented country, free imports of Harley Davidson motorcycles should be allowed on Indian roads.
My research and data study indicates to me that new areas for partnership are fast emerging in 2020 and beyond between the USA and India in such areas as cellphone manufacturing, semiconductor, renewable energy, road building technologies, infrastructure, Venture capital funding for start-ups (there is US$ 15 billion available up for grabs – China lost it), fintech and health sciences, all fields where the USA has extensive expertise and India’s needs and capacities are growing. Bilateral trade in 2018 was $142 billion, a 12.6 percent increase from 2017. U.S. energy exports are an important area of growth in the trade relationship. In 2018 India purchased 48.2 million barrels of U.S. crude oil, a significant increase from 9.6 million in 2017. Last year, Indian students enrolled at U.S. colleges and universities contributed over $8 billion to the U.S. economy and tourists from India about US$ 2 billion. A report titled ‘Indian Roots, American Soil’, by CII – New Delhi, states that Indian companies have contributed USD 147 million towards corporate social responsibility and USD 588 million as research and development expenditures in the US. Tangible investments made and jobs created by 100 Indian firms doing business in America employ 140,000 people across 50 states adding that the total value of tangible investments made by these companies exceeds USD 18 billion. In turn, India should use USA as a springboard to increase massively its exports of goods and services to this region of North and South American countries.
Ramesh Kumar Nanjundaiya
Sunnyvale, California
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Great content there Ramesh – thank you.
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