AmCham members met with delegates from the U.S. China Commission (USCC) on June 30th in New Delhi. The delegation was led by Chairman, Dennis Shea (Sen. Mitch McConnell’s representative) and Vice Chairman Carolyn Bartholomew (Rep. Nancy Pelosi’s representative). Other delegates included Commissioner Peter Brookes, Commissioner Katherine Tobin, Policy Analyst Kristien Bergerson and Policy Analyst Katherine Koleski.

The commission heard from AmCham members about U.S. investments and the investment climate in India; the impact of economic reforms on U.S. companies; Indo-China competition for U.S. companies and the impact of China’s slowdown on the Indian economy. They also discussed matters around the growing population in India and its effects on attaining a strong economy in the near future. It was also discussed how the current government and technology related policies (aadhar, PM insurance yojana and PM pension yojana, LPG subsidies) were playing a positive role in shaping the economy and propelling India to be the next major player in the world stage.

AmCham members from UTC, IBM and Intel updated the group on why they have invested in India and how they were contributing to expand the U.S.-India economic engagement. Coca-cola and BD India members also discussed the serious competition faced by U.S. firms from Indian and Chinese competitors. While the parts were being made in India the technology and the IPR rights are vested with the U.S. for many products, hence the debate on whether FDI is really having a positive impact was also touched upon.

Lastly the delegation concluded with informing the participants that India was the last leg of their journey with previous stops being Taipei and China and hoped to carry the inputs received from AmCham fresh in their minds to present to congress. Participants were given a copy of the 2015 report by the Congress of the U.S. China Economic and Security Review Commission and the USCC 2015 Annual Report. Over 11 senior AmCham members participated and shared their views.