A high-level U.S. Congressional delegation visiting Bangalore met up with the top management of U.S. companies at an exclusive breakfast meeting on 23rd February. This important group of U.S. lawmakers was led by the Chairman of the U.S. House Judiciary Committee, Representative Bob Goodlatte. The other members of Congress present at the meeting were: Rep. George Holding, Rep. Jason Smith, Rep. Dave Trott, Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee, Rep. Hank Johnson, Rep. David Cicilline, and Rep. Henry Cuellar.

The Chairman of AMCHAM’s Karnataka Chapter and Corporate VP & MD, Synopsys South Asia, Dr. Pradip Dutta, led the proceedings. He welcomed the visiting delegation and gave a brief on the Karnataka Chapter and the business climate in India. Chairman Goodlatte then addressed the participants and especially touched on the H1B issue explaining that the U.S. would like to strike deals with India that are in the interest of both the nations, but there was a need to reassess Indo-U.S. policies to create jobs for Americans.

Mr. Sanjay Koul, Chairman and Managing Director of Timken India, and a member of the Karnataka Chapter Executive Committee, AMCHAM, spoke on the manufacturing sector in India especially the prevalent labor laws. Ms. Debrati Sen, Managing Director, 3M India and 3M Sri Lanka, touched on IPR issues and Mr. Santhosh Kumar, Managing Director, Texas Instruments, spoke on how the IT sector had evolved in India, especially in Bangalore.

Among the eminent corporate heads at the meeting were Bala Bharadvaj, Managing Director, Boeing India Engineering & Technology Center; Naresh Shah, President, Hewlett Packard India Software Operation Pvt. Ltd.; Nyron Latif, COO, Goldman Sachs India; Atul Ujagar, Managing Director, Nike Sourcing; Anand Datta, President, Dover India; Yogen Karumbaya, Site Head – Bangalore, Thomson Reuters; and Mohan Sekhar, Senior Managing Director, Accenture Services.

The meeting closed with a vote of thanks from Mr. Iqbal Sait, Head of Asia Operations, Saggezza Inc. and Vice Chairman – Karnataka Chapter, AMCHAM.