He said India provides a trusted framework for global companies and combines scale, talent and market opportunity in a manner unmatched globally.
Commitments from American industry in the last six months are estimated to be upwards of USD 60 billion, including major data centre investments by companies such as Amazon and Google, he said here at the Annual Leadership Summit of the American Chamber of Commerce.
The minister said that America is looking for a trusted partner and India has consistently demonstrated respect for intellectual property rights while delivering high-quality output on time.
India offers a large pool of skilled talent and provides scale to American innovation through demand aggregation from 1.4 billion aspirational Indians, rising incomes and a growing middle class, Goyal said.
Later, briefing the media, he said, “The US has announced investments worth around Rs 6 lakh crore in India in the last few months, in data centres, new factories, semiconductor plants and various other things”.
Both countries, he said, are working together on new technologies such as AI, quantum computing and machine learning.”We have finalised an interim phase one of a bilateral trade agreement (BTA), under which India will get preferential access compared to our competitors to the nearly 30 trillion dollar US market,” he added.
He also said that Prime Minister Narendra Modi is often called by US President Donald Trump as his “very” close friend.
“Therefore, I think the visit of US Secretary of State Marco Rubio is extremely timely and reflects the growing partnership between the US and India, which will provide newer and bigger opportunities to our youth, farmers, women, entrepreneurs, startups, businesses and industries,” he said.
Rubio will undertake a four-day visit to India beginning May 23 to further cooperation in the fields of trade, defence and energy. This will be his first visit to India.
In October last year, Google announced that it will invest USD 15 billion over the next five years in setting up an AI hub in India, which would include the country’s largest data centre in partnership with Adani Group.
Similarly, last month, Amazon India said it plans to invest over Rs 2,800 crore to strengthen associate safety, health and financial well-being measures, and to boost its operations network across the country.
The latest investment is part of the company’s stated commitment to infuse more than USD 35 billion in India by 2030.