'Schemes like Make in India, Smart Cities good opportunity for US cos'

Mumbai: Government's initiatives like Digital India, Make in India and Smart Cities Mission present American businesses a good opportunity to sell high-tech products in the country, US Exim Bank said Tuesday.

"I want to emphasise the potential for cooperation in three government-led initiatives.

"Digital India will present American businesses with an opportunity to sell their products towards new high-speed internet and digital infrastructure in India.

"The Make-in-India initiative offers US high-tech companies the chance to sell equipment to Indian manufacturers harnessing the globally competitive resources of innovators right here in India," Export Import Bank (EXIM) of the United States Chairman Fred P Hochberg said here.

Delivering the keynote address at the Global Trade Review's (GTR) India Trade and Export Finance Conference, Hochberg said the Smart Cities mission will also offer US exporters the chance to provide engineering and high-tech products towards the modernisation of the world's largest

democracy.

Several American companies are looking at opportunities in the renewable energy, transportation and construction sectors.

"We are working with a number of renewable energy companies in the US and they are looking to increase their business here," Hochberg said, adding that India's commitment to renewable energy, particularly solar, is comprehensive and given the country's scale, it has the potential to change the

global energy game.

He pointed out that India plans USD 142 billion investment in railway projects and its aviation sector is fastest growing in the world, increasing by nearly 20 percent every year.

This offers a huge opportunity for US locomotive and aircraft manufacturers as well as engineering and construction firms that will be bidding to build hundreds of new train stations and airports.

At a time of global economic disruption and with a diminishing number of bright spots, competition for projects among exporters will increase in places like India, he remarked.

He said export credit agencies like Exim play a key role in fostering global economic growth through infrastructure investment by filling financing gaps.

"Our mission is to support US jobs and promoting companies headquartered in the US. We also support the Indian companies to invest in the US and export from our country," he added.