New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi, on Thursday (September 24), met with CEOs of top American firms, discussing Indian investment and exploring ways to forge closer Indo-US economic linkages that would benefit the people of the two countries.
Modi, who is going to hold his first face-to-face meeting with President Joe Biden and his deputy Kamala Harris, met with CEOs of Qualcomm, Adobe, First Solar, General Atomics and Blackstone.
"Through the morning, had extensive discussions with top CEOs and business leaders on investment in India. They were appreciative of India's reform trajectory. Closer economic linkages between India and the USA benefit the people of our nations," Modi said after meeting with American CEOs.
In his meeting with Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Qualcomm CEO Cristiano Amon expressed his enthusiasm to work with India on transformation programmes. The top boss also expressed the company’s interest in working with India to solve the shortage of semiconductors. PM Modi also urged Qualcomm to trust talent in India to manufacture in India, taking advantage of the production-linked incentive (PLI) scheme.
PM Modi also met with Adobe CEO Shantanu Narayan, who is one of the Indian origin CEOs of top American companies. In the meeting, he appreciated India's vaccination efforts. PM Modi also discussed with Narayan the collaboration and future investment plans in India.
During his meet with First Solar CEO Mark Widmar, Pm Modi shared how India is working to harness solar energy, especially under the 'One world, One sun and One grid' initiative.
Widmar also shared his plans to benefit from the PLI scheme for manufacturing solar power equipment in India. "They talked about India's renewable energy landscape, particularly solar energy potential, and our target of 450 GW electricity generation from renewable sources by 2030,” the ministry said.
Another Indian origin CEO with whom PM Modi met was General Atomics’ chief Vivek Lall. They discussed how India has adopted drone technology, along with discussing topics such as path-breaking reforms and PLI schemes.
"They spoke about strengthening the defence technology sector in India. Lall appreciated the recent policy changes to accelerate defence and emerging technology manufacturing and augment capacity building in India,” Ministry of External Affairs said in a tweet.
During his meet with Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Blackstone CEO Stephen A Schwarzman discussed proposed investments in India, especially related to the National Infrastructure Pipeline and the recently introduced National Monetisation Pipeline.