Aditya-Khedekar/SarvamAI-VLM-dataset huggingface dataset:
India-U.S. Economic Relations

CONOMIC reforms introduced in 1991 have
radically changed the course of the Indian
economy and led to its gradual integration with the
global economy. Benefits of the reform process are
visible in the form of better growth rates, higher
investment and trade flows.

The effect of these reforms on trade and investment
relations with the United States has been profound.
It is now not only the largest investor country in
India, it is also India’s largest trading partner.

Indian economy today - a brief overview

India is among the fastest growing economies of the
world today, with a growth rate of Gross Domestic
Product (GDP) of 7% during the last 10 years. Dur-
ing 1999-2000 (April-March), GDP registered a 6.4%
growth. Industrial production increased by 8%. The
performance of infrastructure sector improved sig-
nificantly. Inflation rate was a nominal 2-3% for the
first time in decades. Exports, in terms of U.S. dol-
lars, increased by 11.6%. India also continued to
maintain a healthy balance of payments with for-
eign exchange reserves increasing by $6.1 billion
during the year to over $35 billion. All indications
are that the economy will continue to maintain its
strong showing during the current fiscal year with
exports recording a growth of over 28% and indus-
trial production of 5.6% during the first quarter
(April-June 2000).

U.S. Investments in India

U.S. accounts for 22% of all foreign direct invest-
ment (FDI) approved in India (This excludes Euro
issues and NRI investments). Between 1991 and
June 2000, out of the $63.1 billion foreign direct
investments approved, the US constituted $14.2 bil-
lion.

Country-wise FDI Approval (US $ million)

U.S. is also the largest investor in terms of actual
FDI inflow into India. U.S. FDI inflow was about $2.5
billion between 1991 and June 2000 against a total
FDI inflow into the country of $21.3 billion. The
overall U.S. FDI inflow-approval ratio is 18%. But
during the last three years, the ratio has improved to
27%. This has registered a further significant im-
provement during the first six-months of 2000 and
reached 33%.

FDI Inflows from U.S.

.
i

[730.8 [471 [4912 | 2030 ]

44
W
PETES ETT
Sectors predominantly attracting U.S. investment are:

- Fuel (Power & Oil Refinery) - 38.93%

- Food Processing Industries - 10.60%

- Telecommunications - 10.35%

- Service Sector (Financial & Non Financial Service)
- 9.08%

- Electrical Equipments (Computer software & Elec-
tronics) - 8.48%

Foreign Investment
Industry-wise Inflows from USA
(1999-2000)

6%

In Portfolio Investment also, U.S. is the leading in-
vestor. Out of the 530 Foreign Institutional Investors

Continued on next page
India, the India caucus in the House of Representatives now numbers 118.

Indian Americans — A Story of Achievement

e There are now more than 1.5 million peoples of Indian origin in America. They reflect the multi-
ethnic, multi-religious and multi-lingual society of India.

e Indian Americans are represented in many fields including academics and entrepreneurs, doctors

and lawyers, engineers and financiers.

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, Indian American median family income is $60,093 as
against the national median family income of $38,885. The high income clearly reflects the
advanced educational levels achieved by the community.

e More than 87% of Indians in America have completed high school while at least 62% have some

college education. As much as 58% of Indian Americans over the age of 25 hold a bachelor’s
degree or higher.

High levels of education have also enabled Indian Americans to become a productive segment
of the U. S. population, with 72.3% participating in the work force.

Of these work force participants, 43.6% are employed in managerial and professional specialties.

Technical, sales, and administrative support occupations constitute another 33.2% of the work
force.

The remaining 23.3% of the population works in other areas, such as operators, fabricators,
laborers and precision production.

More than 5,000 Indian Americans today serve as faculty members in institutions of higher
education in the U. S.

About 300,000 Indian Americans work in technology firms in California’s Silicon Valley. They
account for more than 15% of high-tech startups in that region. The average income of Indian
Americans in that region is estimated to be $200,000 a year.

Two Indian Americans — late Har Gobind Khorana of Massachusetts Institute of Technology and
late Subrahmanyan Chandrashekhar of University of Chicago — have been awarded the Nobel
Prize, in medicine and physics respectively.

In deed, the NASA’s premier X-ray observatory was named the Chandra X-ray Observatory in
honor of the late Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar. Known to the world as Chandra, he was widely
regarded as one of the foremost astrophysicists of the twentieth century. The observatory was
launched into space in July, 1999.

Dr. Kalpana Chawla added a new chapter to the history of the Indian American community. In
1997, she became the first Indian or Indian American to fly in the U.S. space shuttle. She was
part of the Space Shuttle Columbia Flight STS-87.

The estimated annual buying power of Indian Americans in the United States is around $20
billion.

Indian Americans are increasingly beginning to take a more direct role in political activities. They
have traditionally exercised the most political influence through their campaign contributions,
and are actively involved in fundraising efforts for political candidates on the federal, state and
local levels.

As a result of these activities, together with the growing commercial interest in investment in

Go gle

13
Mahatma Gandhi Memorial
Washington, DC

AMlahecbiner Gawilh t
1869-1948

HRI Atal Bihari Vajpayee, Prime Minister of India will dedicate the Mahatma
Gandhi Memorial on September 16, 2000.

The Mahatma Gandhi Memorial is located on a triangular park along Massachusetts
Avenue and is directly across the road from the Embassy of India. The architecture
of the Memorial is designed to honour Mahatma Gandhi's simplicity, his philosophy
of nonviolence and his commitment to peace.

The centerpiece of the Memorial is a 8 feet 8 inches high bronze statue of Mahatma
Gandhi. The statue, which shows Mahatma in stride, rests on a rough hewn pedestal
of granite.

Google

19
EMBASSY OF INDIA

Q STREET, N.W.

BRONZE STATUE

ROUGH GRANITE PEDESTAL-

I

Site of the
Mahatma Gandhi Memorial

2107 Massachusetts Avenue, NW
Washington, DC 20008

21 st. STREET, N.W.

India & World Trade Organization
(Continued from page 18)

gently so as to ensure that the multilateral trading
system results in mutual benefits for all countries.”
India was also able to moderate the wording on
global coherence as much as “coherence” has been
diluted to “cooperation” in the critical portions of the
UNCTAD-X Declaration and Plan of Action. India
feels that strengthened ‘coherence’ between WTO
and the UN organizations may lead to increased
cross conditionalities, which may narrow down our
policy options for development. Thus our success in
diluting the coherence brief in UNCTAD is signifi-
cant.

(b) Under the second track of post-Seattle follow
up Government has held consultations to appraise
the situation arising out of the failure of the Seattle
Ministerial Conference to reach consensus on major
issues.

A meeting of the Advisory Committee on Interna-
tional Trade was convened on February 3, 2000 to
apprise the Committee of the important develop-
ments at and immediately after Seattle and seek the

Committee’s advice on the way forward. The gist of
the Committee’s advice to Government has been to
ask Government to review the implementation is-
sues and prioritise those which are of core interest;
to ensure that our implementation demands are prop-
erly attuned to our autonomous programme of do-
mestic economic liberalisation; to evolve a suitable
response to a situation where even some of the
developing countries are willing to accept some
watered down version of a group on trade and labour
in association with the WTO; and evolve our stand
on environment so that we don’t appear to be against
protection of environment; to give adequate publicity
to our positive record of adherence to ILO conven-
tions and ongoing efforts for implementation of core
labour standards; and to formulate a national con-
sensus on biotechnology etc.

(c) The third strand of our post-Seattle approach
has been to participate actively in the meetings of
the General Council of the WTO and its subsidiary
bodies to continue to emphasise the areas of our
concern. India has participated actively in the Gen-
eral Council meetings held post-Seattle on December
17, 1999 and on February 2, 7 & 29, 2000.

20

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