India Post News Service

NEW YORK: A clarion call to contribute knowledge, skills and expertise, and not merely dollars for further accelerating the rapid growth of a resurgent India, was sounded out to Indian Americans at the first ever international Pravasi Bharatiya Divas held in New York, Sept 23.

A highly distinguished contingent of political and business leaders from India reached out to the affluent NRI community in the US through accolades and for the first time, tugged at their purse strings with promises of profitable returns rather than with emotional bonds. Speaker after distinguished speaker gave out incredible statistics on collective NRI wealth and mind-boggling possibilities of engaging with India’s growth trajectory and the immense potential of India’s man power that is waiting to be unleashed given the right impetus and support from Indians abroad. It was also the story of the 30 million strong Indian Diaspora spread across 130 countries — the story of ordinary people with extraordinary courage and enterprise, their struggle and success — that was reiterated as one that can help transform an already confident India’s own march to become the world’s third largest economy.

The mini-Pravasi Bharatiya Divas in New York is part of the India@60 celebrations in New York City organized by the Confederation of Indian Industries (CII) and the Ministry of Overseas Indian Affairs and the Overseas Indian Fecilitation Center. Held at Pier 60 along the Hudson, PBD-NY was addressed in different day-long sessions by India’s Minister for Commerce & Industry Kamal Nath, Minister for Overseas Affairs Vayalar Ravi, Ambassador Ronen Sen, President of CII Sunil Bharti Mittal, Nandan Nilekani of Infosys, Chairman of the Knowledge Commission Sam Pitroda, C.K. Prahlad, Parag Saxena of Vedanta Capital Ventures, and several others.

Delivering the presidential address, Vayalar Ravi told Indian Americans that India was already the highest recipient of remittances from overseas Indians, which stood at over $ 23 billion last year. "What is less known though is the fact that nearly half of these remittances come from just 5 million overseas Indians in the Gulf. Clearly, this is a potential area for all of you to consider." In that vein, NRI investments in foreign direct investments was even lower at a modest $8 billion, constituting lower than 5% of the total FDIs in India, he said.

"The bulk of the Diaspora money is in portfolio investments of a short-term nature and the time horizon a mere 3 years. The Indo-American perspective on investing in India should now transform to investing on a longer-term basis. Given the profile of the Indian-American Community, your investment is far short of your potential." He, however, hastened to add that he uses the term ‘investment’ in a broader sense to refer to investment in terms of knowledge, skills, ideas, individual initiatives and community action.

"I am aware that the vast majority of you are professionals. Inward investment is not the only way in which you can contribute to our country’s progress. It is now time, that the reservoir of knowledge, skills, resources and the enterprise of the Overseas Indian Community is drawn upon as partners in progress," he said. With finger right on the pulse of Indian American success in the mainstream, the minister said, "I was delighted to hear that ‘Dilbert’, the popular comic strip introduced a bright young IIT alumnus named Ashok and more recently Raj Patel, the Indian-American teenager made a grand entry in Archie Comics. You have captured the popular imagination of America." Ambassador Ronen Sen said the mutually beneficial nature of the ever-strengthening relationship between India and the US is also being manifested in the rapid growth in two-way trade and investments. "In the first seven months of this year, the fastest growing destination of US exports was India.

Last year, Indian investments in the US were twice that of US investments in India. This is a healthy trend and will continue." He said he was confident that this dynamic community will play an increasing role in promoting technological collaborations and profitable investments in both countries. "We hope to benefit from the experience and expertise of this community, whose achievements have made us proud. I would be grateful for their continued advice on how the Embassy and Consulates General of India could better serve the interests that we share and achieve the goals that we aspire to." Sunil Bharti Mittal who led a 30 member strong CEO delegation to New York, said, India will be a $25 trillion economy before 2040, which would mean 35 times more income in the hands of Indian consumers.

"It is a continent of consumers today that is rising rapidly. There are 300 million children in aged 6-16 and in ten years they will be 16-26 years of age. They will be knocking hard at the doors of society. If educated and provided skills they will become a global workforce willing and competent to serve the world. But if they are not provided proper education and skill sets, problems will rise. So it is incumbent upon us to fix this problem in the next 10 years. And we can really reach out to many of you in the US to work on this front."

Mittal also exhorted Indian American participation in improving urban and rural infrastructure. "You are remitting a lot of money, India is receiving over $30 billion in expatriate remittances every year, it’s a lot of money, but we also need to move investments back home." Nirmal Singh, Secretary, Ministry of Overseas Indian Affairs, said that it was appropriate for the PBD to be held in New York as the Indian community in North America and the Caribbean is the largest in any region. The Ministry has addressed many concerns of overseas Indians, including the institution of the Overseas Citizen of India. He said that of 163,000 OCI cards, about 91,000 have been given out in America and Canada. An officer will be appointed in the Embassy of India in Washington DC to interact with Indian associations.

He also announced that the Overseas Indian Facilitation Center is a one-stop shop set up with the CII so that people of Indian origin can play an important role in India’s economy. At the outset, in her welcome remarks, Consul-General of India in New York, Neelam Deo said PBD has been organized in response to the wishes of the Indians living in US. The Indian American community can utilize what they have learned in their country of adoption for the benefit of India. Engaging the Diaspora: The way forward The interactive sessions on investing in India, and on education and health were lively and full of ideas from the 400-strong audience of Indian Americans. Addressing the session on Investing in India, Kamal Nath, Minister of Commerce and Industry, said the constant comparison to China should be viewed in a different perspective. "As we move on with strong fundamentals, one has to realize that our economy is unlike China’s.

China has its own genius, we have our own. Our growth is domestic market driven and China’s is export market driven." Setting the "record straight", Nath said, "China started its reform process 15 years before us (India). In the 15th year of China’s reforms, its FDI was 6 billion dollars whereas in our 15th year (last year), it was 15 and half billion dollars." What was important, he said, was to understand that as India moves on, it is its credibility as a nation bound by the Rule of Law that will be projected for the world to see. Giving a quick look at the areas of investment opportunities for investors and the Diaspora, Co-Chairman of Infosys, Nandan Nilekani said the industry, outsourcing and social development were the focus areas with huge possibilities.

The Indian IT industry, he pointed out, has grown from 50 million dollars in size in 1991 to 30 billion dollars in size today. "What is interesting is that the pace of industrial growth continues unabated, at 20-30 percent a year it will be 50-60 billion dollars in next 3-4 years, doubling employment as well from the current 1.6 million to 3.2 million.

It took 25-30 years to reach $30 billion but it will take only 3-4 years to reach $50-60 billion." Representing the Diaspora was Sam Kannapan, President, ABI Enterprises, Houston, Texas, who spoke about the change in selling the India story to investors, but said that concerns regarding transparency and accountability remain. Parag Saxena, Founder and CEO, Vedanta Capital, talked about simplification of procedures in India and development of a deep long term bond market. Anil Kumar, Co Chairman, CII Indian American Council and Director, McKinsey and Co, outlined the ways in which the Indian American Council can facilitate interest of the community in development in India.