President Announces 20 U.S.-India Trade Deals During Asia Trip

U.S.-India Trade Partnership Expanding with Deals in Machinery, High Tech, Etc.

The President stated that these cross-border collaborations underpin the expanding U.S.-India strategic partnership, contributing to economic growth and development in both countries. Examples include:

Heavy transport aircraft. The Boeing Company and the Indian Air Force have reached preliminary agreement on the purchase of 10 C-17 Globemaster III military transport aircraft and are now in the process of finalizing the details of the sale. Once all have been delivered, the Indian Air Force will be the owner and operator of the largest fleet of C-17s outside of the U.S.

Gas and steam turbines. The General Electric Company, headquartered in Fairfield, Connecticut, was selected to supply six advanced class 9FA gas turbines and three steam turbines for the 2,500-megawatt Samalkot power plant expansion to be constructed by Reliance Power Ltd., a division of the Reliance Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group, one of the largest conglomerates in India.

Diesel locomotives. The Indian Ministry of Railways has announced the prequalification of the sole two bidders - GE Transportation (Erie, Pennsylvania) and Electro-Motive Diesel (LaGrange, Illinois) - for a venture to manufacture and supply of 1,000 diesel locomotives over 10 years.

Motorcycles. Harley-Davidson Motor Company, headquartered in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, announced that preparations are underway to open a new plant in India for the assembly of Harley-Davidson motorcycles from U.S.-built “complete knock-down” kits.

Cell phones technology. Intuit, a company headquartered in Mountain View, California, which serves millions of small businesses worldwide, will launch a new mobile and web-based marketing service in partnership with Nokia, called “Intuit GoConnect”. This innovative technology will help Indian micro and small businesses grow and thrive by bringing customer management tools to the entrepreneur.

The Unique Identification Project. L-1 Identity Solutions, headquartered in Stamford, Connecticut, and another U.S.-headquartered company, lead two of the three vendor consortia, which have been prequalified by the Unique Identity Authority of India for the first phase of an effort to register Indian residents with a 12-digit unique number using biometric identifiers. Unprecedented in scale, seeking to register 1.2 billion Indian residents, the Unique Identification program aims to enhance delivery of government services in India.

U.S.-India Trade Relationship Still Surprisingly Small

In remarks to the U.S.-India Business Council, President Obama noted the surprisingly small size of the U.S.-India trade relationship with less than 10% of India’s imports coming from the U.S., and only 2% of U.S. exports going to India. The entire trade relationship with India is still less than U.S. trade with the Netherlands - a country with a smaller population than the city of Mumbai. As a result, India is only the 12th largest trade partner of the U.S.

President Seeks Removal of Barriers to Increase Trade, Investment

The President stated that the U.S. wants to work with India to remove remaining barriers in order to increase trade and investment between the two countries.

India Is Key Market for President’s Export Initiative, Etc.

With economic growth estimates at about 9.7% in 2010, India is a key market for the Obama Administration’s National Export Initiative, which aims to double U.S. exports in five years. The President added that he believes that the relationship between the U.S. and India will be one of the defining and indispensable partnerships of the 21st century.