Committed to create better business environment, India tells US business community

 The Dollar Business Bureau The government is committed towards accelerating growth, reviving the investment cycle and creating better business environment in India, Union Power and Energy Minister Piyush Goyal told US business community. The minister chaired an investment round-table conference of the US India Business Council (USIBC) in Washington on Thursday. During the conference, Goyal met prominent members of the US administration including Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz and Commerce Secretary Penny Pritzker. He also had a telephonic conversation with the US Trade Representative (USTR), Ambassador Michael Froman. Earlier, the minister attended the United Nations Sustainable Energy for all (SE4ALL) conference in New York. In his meetings with business leaders, Goyal talked about various steps taken by the Narendra Modi-led government for accelerating growth, reviving the investment cycle and creating better business environment in country. Speaking on the energy sector scenario in India, Goyal said that his ministry has taken several measures to enhance the country’s power generation capacity and coal production. Enhancing the target for power production from renewable sources five-fold to 175 GW over the next seven years, doubling the total electricity production over the next seven years, and creating a framework for private sector participation in coal mining and production are some of the initiatives taken by the government, the minister said. Goyal also talked about his government’s achievement, saying that the country’s power sector is ready for investments worth US $ 250 billion and is moving towards the ultimate target of round-the-clock electricity supply to all by 2019. He asked the US business community to “invest in India which is a large and dynamic market of 1.25 billion aspirational upwardly mobile people and to enable transfer of technology” for mutual benefits. “The business interactions elicited positive reviews from entities with investments in India, who acknowledge tangible improvement in the business environment in the country,” a government statement said. The senior administration officials in the US also recognized a major positive shift in the US-India relations and committed to explore new opportunities for cooperation. Goyal is accompanied by Arun Singh, Ambassador of India to the US, and senior officials of the ministry of power and new and renewable energy.    

May 22, 2015 | 6:53 pm IST.