On Saturday, United States Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen spoke at a roundtable with US and Indian tech business leaders in Bengaluru, stating her eagerness to deepen ties in the technology sector. Yellen highlighted the US approach called “friendshoring” which seeks to bolster the resilience of supply chains by strengthening integration with trusted trading partners, including India. She noted that progress has been made, with technology giants Apple and Google expanding phone production in India.
Yellen went on to explain that the US is investing in digital technologies that will drive inclusive and resilient growth in India through the Partnership for Global Infrastructure and Investment (PGII). Specifically, investments in agri-tech for climate-smart agricultural production and digital payment systems for micro-entrepreneurs have been announced under the PGII, in addition to investments in renewable energy, health, and other infrastructure sectors in India.
The US aims to mobilize $200 billion through 2027 for the PGII, and Yellen expressed the country’s commitment to partnering with India to continue investing in the future. The roundtable was attended by top chief executives, including Sandip Patel from IBM, Nandan Nilekani from Infosys, and Nivruti Rai from Intel.
Yellen also highlighted the importance of the US-India relationship, noting that the US is India’s biggest trading partner, with bilateral trade totaling over $150 billion in 2021. She emphasized the close people-to-people ties between the two nations, with 2 lakh Indians studying in American schools and universities. Yellen noted that daily dependence on each other is evident, with Indians using WhatsApp to communicate and many American companies relying on Infosys to operate.
Nilekani from Infosys shared the company’s commitment to expanding its education institutes with 1,200 teachers in the US, working with all US universities, and recruiting 7,000 fresh graduates this year. He also stated that Infosys runs India’s completely digital tax system at the backend.
Patel from IBM expressed his enthusiasm for strengthening the US-India trusted technology partnership through proactive policy measures on critical and emerging tech, stating that it would benefit the economies and people of both countries immensely.
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(Via)
