Prime Minister Narendra Modi, in the US to hard sell India as an investment destination, today told CEOs of 11 American companies over breakfast that infrastructure development is a big opportunity that creates jobs.
He also said, "We want to convert the Supreme Court judgement on coal allocation into an opportunity to move forward and clean up the past."
Last week, the Supreme Court cancelled 214 coal block allocations made by the government over the past two decades. It ruled that they were allotted through an "ad-hoc and casual" approach, affecting public interest by the "unfair distribution of the national wealth - coal."
The coal blocks are now free to be auctioned or allotted again. Industry has said it fears that the judgement will raise questions on the sanctity of government policies and impact the investment climate.
Among the 11 CEOs that Mr Modi met over breakfast this morning are Google's Eric Schmidt and PepsiCo's Indira Nooyi. "Business more than breakfast is on agenda," said an official of the ministry of external affairs.
Ms Nooyi described it as a "good meeting with the PM."
Mr Modi now heads into one-on-one meetings of 15 to 20 minutes each with six other CEOs - W. James (Jim) McNerney Jr, chairman of Boeing; Laurence D. Fink, CEO of American multinational investment management firm Black Rock; Ginni Rometty, president and CEO of IBM; Jeffrey R. Immelt, chairman and CEO of General Electric; Lloyd Blankfein, chairman and CEO of Goldman Sachs, and Henry Kravis, CEO of American private equity fund Kohlberg Kravis Roberts and Co (KKR).
The Prime Minister is also expected to pitch for big investment in the manufacturing sector, which is the biggest job creator.
The Modi government has vowed to increase the share of the manufacturing sector to 25 per cent of the GDP from 15 per cent currently. For this, the sector needs to grow at 10 per cent annually. Hours before he left for the US last week, Prime Minister Modi launched the ambitious "Make in India" campaign, where he promised red carpet treatment for investors minus the red tape that has come to be associated with doing business in India.
On Sunday, at a packed Madison Square Garden in New York, the Prime Minister repeated that promise and vowed to repeal archaic laws and make investing easier in the country.
Mr Modi carried gift packs of tea from India for the CEOs he met. Each box is signed by the Prime Minister.
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