The annual AMCHAM India door knock delegation to Washington DC was led by AMCHAM’s Chairman, Mr. Atul Dhawan, Chairperson, Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu India LLP from June 12th– 17th, 2022. The main purpose of the door knock was to inform and sensitize U.S. policy-makers on issues impacting U.S. investments in India. The delegation interacted with many of the important players in the economic relationship and other key decision-makers.

This year, AMCHAM’s door knock whitepaper was created in collaboration with knowledge partner KPMG in India. The document provided an industry perspective on India’s economy while highlighting some of the key sector-wise industry related challenges faced by U.S. companies operating in India. This year the delegation had a record number of meetings — 16 offices and 11 Senators and Representatives (Congressmen/women), in addition to meetings with think tanks and important committee staff professionals to share their views on the bilateral relationship in the emerging geopolitical scenario.

The main topics of discussions with government officials included:

• • Possibility of a free trade agreement between U.S. and India
  • Emerging opportunities in the Indo Pacific Economic Framework (IPEF)
  • Streamlining regulatory challenges for ease of doing business
  • Benefits of the U.S. Innovations and Competition Act (USICA Act) 2021
  • Industry and government working together with vigour on the Foreign Military Sales (FMS)
  • Opportunities in co-production and co-development
  • Ambition to revoke the frictions in the Industrial Security Agreements (ISA)
  • Ways to expedite the non-International Traffic in Arms Regulations (ITAR)
  • U.S.-India Dialogue on Critical and Emerging Technologies
  • Building diverse, resilient supply chains
  • U.S.-India Higher Education Cooperation
  • Developing a robust trade and investment partnership
  • Plan to conduct an inaugural Defence Space Dialogue in 2022
  • Access and availability of semiconductors
  • Data localization challenges
  • Incentives for energy companies to invest in India
  • Digital trade and how India would benefit from it
  • Need for renewal of e-commerce moratorium
  • Partnerships with Indian universities to access agricultural waste and use for bio fuel
  • Support on how to get businesses certified in Maintenance and Repair Overhaul (MRO)
  • Airport modernization programs
  • Countering America’s Adversaries Through Sanctions Act (CAATSA) – status on waiver
  • Shared commitment to a free, open, and prosperous Indo-Pacific region
  • Call for greater cooperation to address global development challenges

On Sunday evening, June 12th, the door knock officially kicked off with an informal internal briefing with Mr. Nelson Cunningham, Vice-Chair, McLarty Associates. On Monday, June 13th, the delegation interacted with India experts from think tanks, hosted by the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), with Mr. Richard M. Rossow, Wadhwani Chair in U.S.-India Policy Studies, Center for Strategic & International Studies and Senior Director – India & South Asia, McLarty Associates, Mr. Akhil Bery, Director of South Asia Initiatives, Asia Society Policy Institute, Dr. Irfan Nooruddin, Senior Director, South Asia Center, Atlantic Council, Ms. Manjari Chatterjee Miller, Senior Fellow, India, Pakistan, and South Asia, David Rockefeller Studies Program, Council on Foreign Relations, Mr. Matthew P. Goodman, Senior Vice President for Economics, Simon Chair in Political Economy, CSIS, Ms. Katherine B. Hadda, Adjunct Fellow (Non-resident), Wadhwani Chair in U.S.-India Policy Studies, CSIS, Mr. Sanjeev Joshipura, Executive Director, Indiaspora, Mr. Jonathan Heimer, Minister Counselor for Commercial Affairs (as of September 2022) U.S. Embassy, Mr. Tom Carnegie, Special Advisor, Bureau of South and Central Asian Affairs/INSB U.S. Department of State and Dr. Daniel Markey, Senior Advisor, South Asia, Asia Center, U.S. Institute of Peace.

This was immediate followed by a meeting with Ms. Sumona Guha, Senior Director for South Asia, National Security Council, Executive Office of the President, Mr. Edgard Kagan, Special Assistant to the President and Senior Director for East Asia and Oceania, National Security Council, Executive Office of the President and Mr. Chris Commins, India Director, National Security Council, Executive Office of the President. The delegation met with Mr. Donald Lu, Assistant Secretary, Bureau of South and Central Asian Affairs, U.S. Department of State, Ms. Nancy Izzo Jackson, Deputy Assistant Secretary for India, Bureau of South and Central Asian Affairs, U.S. Department of State and Representative Joe Wilson (R-SC) then headed to USTR for a meeting with Ambassador Sarah Bianchi, Deputy United States Trade Representative, Mr. Christopher Wilson, Assistant U.S. Trade Representative, South and Central Asia, Mr. Brendan Lynch, Deputy Assistant U.S. Trade Representative for South and Central Asia and Ms. Emily Ashby, Director, South and Central Asia. Part of the delegation met with Representative Linda Sanchez (D-CA) and others attended a reception at CSIS with the leadership of Delhi Policy Group. Day one concluded with a briefing from Ambassador Richard Verma on ‘Perspectives on the Current Geopolitical Situation, U.S.-India Relations and Global Trade & Security Environment’ hosted by Ambassador (Ret) Lee A. Feinstein, President, McLarty Associates.

On Tuesday, June 14th, the delegation met with Mr. Paul Ahern, Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary, Terrorist Financing and Financial Crimes, U.S. Department of Treasury, Senator Todd Young (R-IN), Senator Rick Scott (R-FL), Representative Steve Chabot (R-OH) Co-Chair of the Congressional India Caucus and Senator Steve Daines (R-MT). Defense companies in the delegation met with Mr. Robert Helfant, Assistant Director for International Operations, Defense Security Cooperation Agency, U.S. Department of Defense. Day two concluded with a meeting with Mr. Tarun Chhabra, Senior Director for Technology and National Security, National Security Council, Executive Office of the President and Ms. Helena Fu, Director for Technology Alliances, National Security Council, Executive Office of the President, followed by a meeting with Mr. Arun Venkataraman, Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Global Markets, and Director General of the U.S. and Foreign Commercial Service, Global Markets, International Trade Administration, U.S. Department of Commerce and his colleagues Mr. Ike Theodore Umunnah, Senior Advisor to the Assistant Secretary for Global Markets and Director General of the U.S. and Foreign Commercial Service and Mr. Jonathan S. Goldberg, International Trade Specialist, Office of South Asia, Global Markets.

On Wednesday, June 15th the delegation interacted with Mr. Christopher Padilla, Vice President, Government and Regulatory Affairs, IBM Corporation before heading to Capitol Hill for meetings with Representative Jake Ellzey (R-TX), Senator Roger Marshall, M.D. (R-KS) and Senator Ted Cruz (R-TX). A small group of the delegation met with Ms. Annie Petsonk, Assistant Secretary for Aviation and International Affairs, U.S. Department of Transportation. Day three concluded at India House with Ambassador Taranjit Singh Sandhu, Ms. Suja K. Menon, Minister (Commerce), Embassy of India, Dr. Ravi Kota, Minister (Economic), Embassy of India and Mr. Rajiv Kumar Mishra, First Secretary (Political), Embassy of India.

The next day, Thursday June 16th, the delegation split up in smaller groups while aviation and defense companies met with Ms. Carey Fagan, Acting Executive Director for International Affairs, Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), Mr. Mario Miranda, Acting Executive Director, Navy International Programs Office (NIPO), U.S. Department of Defense and Ambassador Tina Kaidanow, Senior Strategy Advisor, Security Cooperation Department of Navy International Programs, U.S. Department of Defense, other delegates met with Ms. Enoh Ebong, Director, U.S. Trade and Development Agency (USTDA), Ambassador Vinai Thummalapally, Deputy Director and Chief Operating Officer, USTDA, Ms. Verinda Fike, Regional Director, Indo-Pacific, USTDA and Ms. Alissa Lee, Country Manager, East Asia & Indo-Pacific Regions, USTDA. On Capitol Hill, the delegation met with Representative Ami Bera (D-CA), Mr. Michael Schiffer, Senior Advisor/Counselor, Senate Foreign Relations Committee and Senator Mark Warner, Co-Chair, Senate India Caucus (D-VA). Later at the State Department the delegation met Ms. Laura Cressey, Office Director, Regional Security and Arms Transfers (RSAT), Bureau of Political-Military Affairs, U.S. Department of State followed by a meeting with Mr. Jose W. Fernandez, Under Secretary for Economic Growth, Energy and the Environment, U.S. Department of State, Ms. Anna Shpitsberg, Deputy Assistant Secretary, Bureau of Energy Resources, U.S. Department of State and Mr. Dilawar Syed, Special Representative for Commercial and Business Affairs, U.S. Department of State. Day four concluded with defense members meeting with Ms. Cara Abercrombie, Coordinator for Defense and Arms Control, National Security Council, Executive Office of the President and Mr. Andrea “Hammy” Maugeri, Director for Defense Policy and Strategy for the Defense Directorate, National Security Council.

On the last day of the door knock, Friday, June 17th, the delegation met with Mr. Andrew Herscowitz, Chief Development Officer, U.S. International Development Finance Corporation (DFC) and Ms. Aparna Shrivastava, Deputy Chief Climate Officer, DFC. The door knock concluded with a meeting with Ms. Ann E. Kowalewski, Senior Policy Analyst, Senate Foreign Relations Committee and Mr. Andy Olson, Deputy Staff Director, Senate Foreign Relations Committee (Ranking Member, Senator James Risch).

AMCHAM India Door Knock Delegation 2022

1. 1. Mr. Atul Dhawan, Chairperson, Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu India LLP (Chairman, AMCHAM)
   2. Mr. Som Satsangi, Senior Vice President and Managing Director, Hewlett Packard Enterprise, India (Vice Chairman, AMCHAM)
   3. Mr. William L. Blair, Chief Executive, Lockheed Martin India (National Executive Board Member and Chairman – Defense Committee, AMCHAM)
   4. Mr. Atanu Mukherjee, Chief Executive Officer, Dastur Energy (Chairman – Eastern Region, AMCHAM)
   5. Mr. Ravi Nirgudkar, Managing Director, India, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, BAE Systems, India (National Executive Board Member and Co-Chairman – Defense Committee, AMCHAM)
   6. Ms. Ashmita Sethi, President & Country Head, Pratt & Whitney, India (Chairperson – Aviation Committee, AMCHAM)
   7. Mr. Surendra Ahuja, Managing Director, Boeing India Defense (Co-Chairman – Defense Committee, AMCHAM) or Mr. Salil Gupte, President, Boeing India (Immediate Past Chairman, AMCHAM)
   8. Ms. Jyotsna Ghoshal, Enterprise Lead, Government Affairs and Policy, India, Johnson & Johnson (Co-Chairperson – Pharma Committee, AMCHAM)
   9. Mr. Puneet Kumar, Managing Director, Accenture Solutions
   10. Mr. Anand Vijay Jha, Managing Director – Government Relations, Blackstone Advisors India
   11. Mr. Abhijit Sarkar, Vice President, Dastur Energy
   12. Mr. Tabrez Ahmad, Group Director, Government Affairs & Public Policy, Dell International Services India
   13. Ms. Anubhuti Kaul Bhrany, Senior Director and Head-Government Affairs, India, Flex
   14. Mr. Nelson Cunningham, Vice-Chair, McLarty Associates
   15. Mr. Rajesh Ranjan, Director of Government Affairs and Public Policy, Microsoft Corporation India
   16. Mr. Samit Ray, Regional Director Government Affairs & Public Policy South Asia, Raytheon Technologies Corporation
   17. Ms. Ranjana Khanna, Director General CEO, AMCHAM India
   18. Ms. Valerie Swope, Program Coordinator, AMCHAM India
   19. Ms. Udaya Arun, Director – Aerospace & Defence, AMCHAM India