PM Modi woos CEOs, media honchos in US, says 'India is the biggest opportunity as well as challenge'

Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who is on a five-day visit to the US, held a round table meeting with representatives of financial organisations, media honchos and Fortune 500 CEOs as part of the first big official engagements.

The Prime Minister met representatives of financial organisations, including JP Morgan and Blackstone.

PM Modi reportedly asked the financial head honchos to give him details on the concerns they have about investing in India.

He also met heads of top media houses, including Rupert Murdoch. Modi told the media barons that India would do everything to protect Intellectual Property Rights.

Later, the Prime Minister hosted a working dinner with CEOs of top American firms, including Lockheed Martin, Ford, IBM, PepsiCo, GE and Boeing.

During the meeting, the Prime Minister said, "Reform in governance is my priority. We are for simplified procedures, speedy decision making, transparency, accountability."

He further pointed that while foreign direct investment (FDI) had fallen all over the world, it had increased by 40 per cent in India. The Prime Minister added, "This reflects confidence in the Indian economy."

Meanwhile, PM Modi told media sector CEOs that his government was committed to protecting Intellectual Property Rights, "which is essential to fostering creativity". He further said that India was a "technology driven society".

Later, addressing a press conference, Ministry of External Affairs spokesperson Vikas Swarup said that the Prime Minister told the CEOs that "India is the biggest opportunity as well as the biggest challenge".

"There was a discussion about connectivity and infrastructure; There was also some discussion on sustainable development goal," said Swarup. He added that "world media CEOs expect speedy digitisation of media in India".

Swarup also said that the Prime Minister had a fruitful meeting with Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina. "It was a good meeting and they reviewed progress in bilateral meeting since they last met," he said.

The Prime Minister told the CEOs that "India is ready to welcome them with both hands and it is the right time for them to come and invest in the world's largest democratic country".

Modi outlined efforts made during the last 15 months to increase investment in key areas like infrastructure.

Some of the CEOs, after the meeting, said that they were satisfied with the progress of the reform.

"The government has already undertaken a massive amount of reforms. Key message from the US companies was keep doing what you are doing. I had a great meeting, there was a constructive dialogue in the spirit of collaboration. We are looking at India trying to get foreign direct investment," J P Morgan CEO James Dimon said.

"Our goal is to make sure that we are seeing enough change so that we feel we are comfortable in investing our capital. We would continue to watch and wait. For the amount of time he has been in office, there has been a lot of changes he has made. So clearly more to come, but as a potential investor, we are optimist," said Vicki Fuller of New York State Common Retirement Fund after her meeting with Modi.

When asked if she is satisfied with the pace of economic reforms in India, Fuller replied in positive, "Yes I am." Black Stone CEO Stephen A Schwarzman said that he felt the Prime Minister was open to the suggestions the CEOs put before him to improve access to the country. "There are various, in terms of ability of US companies to take IPOs, the ability to have more capital going to rural areas," he said when asked on the kind of reforms US companies would like to have in India.

"I think, things tend to overshoot. People tend to get exceptionally excited. I am hopeful as is everyone that things would be on track," Schwarzman said.

(With PTI Inputs)