US – India business partnership will be the biggest surprise of this decade
Indiadaily  | January 07, 2005 | Balaji Reddy, Special Correspondent
 

India and America are discovering each other. With American innovation and India’s cheap and extremely talented skill level, the join venture can be world’s most efficient and profitable enterprise ever created.

The visit of prominent US senators to India is remarkable. India is being drawn in as the most effective ally that can change the business equation of America forever. As a result, India will also benefit from profit sharing in the business partnership.

Think about American goods and services manufactured and service in India at a cost that Japanese, Chinese or Europeans cannot match. Think about Research and Development in India and America that can produce zillion international patents.

The new enterprise can make both India and America – the largest democracies – experience the conversion of trade deficit to trade surpluses. So many jobs will be created in India and America that no one will complain about outsourcing. Both countries may have budget surplus instead of budget deficit. India can be the second largest economy after America and not third behind China.

The United States has said outsourcing to India was "unavoidable" as the latter had earned its place as the world's knowledge capital in the BPO sector and that it was actively considering increasing the H1B visas for Indian workers. "Several appeals were made by the US citizens to put a stop to outsourcing to India but were outright rejected as the US felt that outsourcing to India, the knowledge capital of the world in BPO sector, was unavoidable," an Assocham statement said, quoting US Deputy Chief of Mission Robert O Blake. Speaking at an interactive session organised by the industry body, he said the US was now thinking about increasing the number of H1B visas to Indian professionals. "This decision is based on the fact that the US recognises India's contribution in the fields like accounts, software, engineering and law," he said. Inviting closer cooperation between the small and medium sized companies of the US and India, he said, "Such technological advancements will be of great use to Indian small scale sector." He said the fact that the US was sending several senators to India next week proves that the country was serious in boosting economic cooperation with India. "This will give India an opportunity to showcase itself to an important legislative arm of the US government," he said. India's imports from the US stood at $5 billion in 2003 while the exports to the US were valued at over $13 billion, it added.