India signs Investment Incentive Agreement to boost US investment in key sectors

TOKYO: Foreign Secretary Vinay Kwatra and Chief Executive Officer of the U.S. International Development Finance Corporation (DFC) Scott A. Nathan on Monday signed an Investment Incentive Agreement (IIA) which will pave a path to strengthen and promote DFC’s investments in India in key sectors.

Taking to Twitter, Ministry of External Affairs Spokesperson Arindam Bagchi wrote, “Foreign Secretary Vinay Kwatra and CEO @DFCgov Scott Nathan sign the India-USA Investment Incentive Agreement (IIA). The signing of IIA would lead to enhanced investment support provided by @DFCgov in India, thereby encouraging investment in key sectors.”
Notably, the United States International Development Finance Corporation is a development finance institution and agency of the United States federal government.

The signing of the agreement comes on the sidelines of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s two day visit to Tokyo, Japan where he interacted with top Japanese business leaders and discussed various reforms being undertaken to enable ease of doing business in India.

Earlier, PM Modi participated in a round table meeting with top CEOs of over 30 Japanese companies in Tokyo, Japan and invited the leaders to join India’s “Make in India for the World” campaign.

After the event PM Modi in a tweet wrote, “Met top business leaders in Tokyo. Our conversations focussed on diverse topics ranging from innovation to investments, tech to textiles, reforms to StartUps. There is great enthusiasm towards India and there is great appreciation for the entrepreneurial skills of India’s youth.”

Prior to this business event, PM Modi met with a number of top Japanese leaders such as CEO of Fast Retailing, the parent company of Uniqlo, Tadashi Yanai and Dr. Nobuhiro Endo, Chairman, NEC Corporation.

While Yanai appreciated the entrepreneurial zeal of Indians, PM Modi discussed with him Uniqlo’s growing presence in India and investment opportunities for textile manufacturing under Production Linked Incentive (PLI) scheme.

Meanwhile, Prime Minister appreciated NEC’s role in India’s telecommunication sector, especially in undertaking Chennai-Andaman & Nicobar Islands (CANI) and Kochi-Lakshadweep Islands (KLI) OFC projects. (ANI)