On his last day in the city Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi delivered a power-pitch on the untapped potential of India’s growth opportunities to the CEOs of 11 preeminent U.S. corporations, telling them that so far as the coal industry was concerned he viewed the Supreme Court’s order cancelling allocations as an “opportunity” for the government to start anew.
Nearing the end of a four-day blitz of meetings with dignitaries and Indian-American community representatives in Manhattan Mr. Modi said to the captains of American industry, who may have concerns regarding investing in India, “India is open-minded. We want change, change that is not one-sided,” according to Ministry of External Affairs Syed Akbaruddin.
While the Prime Minister was reported to have answered some tough questions about his government’s plans to reform and attract more foreign investment he also pitched for ramping up investment in India, particularly in infrastructure, and spoke of his favourite theme of “Make in India” for partnerships with U.S. companies.
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The PM first met a group of top CEOs at breakfast including Mastercard CEO Ajay Banga, Cargill’s President and CEO David W MacLennan, Caterpillar’s Douglas Oberhelman,
AES’ Andres Gluski, Merck’s Kenneth Frazier, co-founder and co-CEO of Carlyle Group David Rubenstein, Hospira’s Michael Ball and Warburg Pincus’ Charles Kaye.