NEW YORK: A trade delegation of the US-India Political Action Committee (USINPAC) met with top Indian corporate leaders in Bangalore, India during a visit Jan 2 to 4.The delegation of prominent business leaders, entrepreneurs, political activists, and professionals from the Indian-American community got to hear from some of the most respected names among Indian corporate leaders. The economic sectors represented by these high-level meetings were IT, pharmaceutical and healthcare, telecommunications, infrastructure and agri-business.

The diversity of the meetings was complemented by their quality of content and depth of analysis, according to Sanjay Puri, USINPAC Chairman and leader of the delegation. "For five years now, those participating in our annual USINPAC delegation have been treated to valuable experiences and access that truly cannot be easily had elsewhere." The dialogue was an honest and balanced one that the USINPAC delegation found very informative.

Narayana Murthy, Co-Chairman of Infosys Technologies Ltd., illustrated this balance for the delegation by saying, "Macro-economic growth in India is on course. Both the short term and long term economic outlook is very good. The down side is that the economic growth has not improved much the number of people living below the poverty line, access to the basic human necessities by every citizen is not being met, and demand for skilled labor has far out-stripped the supply of qualified college graduates.

"Dr. Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw, Chairperson & Managing Director of Biocon Ltd., spoke specifically to the biotech sector experience, "While IT has been a huge productive sector biotech is playing a crucial role in the transformation of India's knowledge sector economy. Innovation, cost effectiveness of production facilities, and the availability of a very large pool of skilled labor provide the Indian biotech sector a global competitive edge.

But India's economic growth and business productivity continues to be plagued by poor infrastructure, which negates India's competitive edge in comparison to the US and Europe."This was the first visit by a USINPAC delegation to Bangalore. The inclusion of Bangalore recognizes the pivotal role that the city has played in transforming India into a global powerhouse in the information technology and pharmaceutical sectors.

Other senior corporate leaders the delegation met in Bangalore included: Dr. D.P. Saraswat, COO of Manipal Health Systems; Ravi Venkatesan, CEO of Microsoft India Pvt. Ltd.; Rakesh Singh, COO of Spice Telecom; Jerry Rao, Chairman of Mphasis; and B.V.N. Rao, Group Director of the GMR Group.