Indian tech entrepreneurs and infrastructure projects are to get boosted as announced by the US treasury Secretary Janet Yellen on Saturday. The United States is planning to support financially to Indian entrepreneurs from its $200 billion Partnership for Global Infrastructure and Investment (PGII) Fund as a part of ‘friendshoring’.
Under a G7 initiative that aimed to counter China’s multi-trillion dollar Belt and Road project, the US announced raising $200 billion in different private and public funds through 2027.
This initiative was taken in June 2022 to support different developing countries to develop their infrastructure throughout the country.
“Overall, the US aims to mobilise $200 billion through 2027 for PGII, and we look forward to partnering with India to continue investing in its future,” Yellen said, addressing a roundtable with US and Indian tech business leaders
Several market giants attended the meeting including Nandan Nilekani, the co-founder of Infosys; Rishad Premji, executive chairman of Wipro; Josh Foulger, country head and managing director at Foxconn International Holding; Sandip Patel of IBM; Nivruti Rai of Intel; Viram Rai of GE and many more.
“Through the partnership for global infrastructure and investment, or PGII, we are investing in digital technologies that will drive inclusive, resilient growth in India,” Yellen told the tech leaders
The US has proposed investments through PGII in electronic payment systems for micro-entrepreneurs as well as in agritech to allow climate-smart agricultural production. They complement investments made in India’s infrastructure in the health care sector, renewable energy, and other industries, she added.
India’s major trade partner is the United States. Bilateral trade between the US and India topped $150 billion in 2021. According to Yellen, nearly 200,000 Indian students are improving American colleges and institutions by studying there.
“We depend on each other on a daily basis: Indians use WhatsApp to communicate and many American companies rely on Infosys to operate,” she said.
Nilekani claimed that Infosys is the provider for India’s expansive both direct and indirect digital taxation system as she pursued modern technological collaborations with the United States.
“We estimate that the tax gap in the US over the next decade will be $7 trillion. We are not collecting the taxes that are due under our tax laws and we are making a major investment in technology to bridge that gap,” Yellen said responding to Nilekani.
Yellen said the US is advancing an approach called “friendshoring” to bolster the resilience of supply chains. “We are doing this by strengthening integration with our many trusted trading partners — including India. We are seeing progress; as an example, technology companies like Apple and Google have expanded their phone production in India,” she said.
