Relationship between India, US ‘multiplicative’: US envoy Garcetti

Oxon Hill, Jun 27 (PTI) The India-US relationship has never been better, US envoy to India Eric Garcetti has said, asserting that ties between the two strategic partners are not just “additive” but also “multiplicative”.

Garcetti made the remarks at an event on the sidelines of the SelectUSA Investment Summit, to which the largest delegation is from India. “This (India-US) is a relationship that isn’t just additive. It’s not just the US plus India. It’s multiplicative. It’s the United States times India,” Garcetti said at the meeting held in the suburbs of Washington on Monday.

Garcetti underlined that the relationship between India and the US has never been better. “We’ve never had a closer relationship with India. Americans of Indian descent are now about 1.5 per cent of our population. And pay six per cent of the taxes in America. It is the most successful immigrant community in America,” he said.

Garcetti spoke at the event in which India’s JSW Steel announced its plans to invest USD 110 million in Baytown, Texas. “Now, Americans are getting more and more familiar with Indian brands and Indian companies… Together we’re investing in third countries, infrastructure, energy, climate solutions, empowering tomorrow’s prosperity,” Garcetti said as he announced investment from JW Steel.

“We are so excited that JSW Steel is announcing a USD 110 million investment in America, in Baytown, Texas. JSW is one of the largest Indian investors in the United States, investing more than USD 2 billion here in this country, in Texas and Ohio. They have seen tremendous return on their investment,” he said.

This FDI (Foreign Direct Investment) would result in jobs for more than 800 American workers, he said.

“While the story used to be about American companies going to India to invest, which we still do,… increasingly we’re seeing this two-way street, a bridge in the Indo-pacific coming from India into the United States, savings steel mills, looking at mines that have been shut down, investing in electrolytes for electric vehicles of the future, the services, the health care,” Garcetti said.

Divyakumar Bhair, Board Member, JSW Steel USA, said these investments would go into manufacturing high-end steel plates used for offshore wind, monopile, transition pieces, and towers.

“This will not only help realise the dream of clean energy for the generations to come in the United States but will also catalyse the local economies of Texas,” he said.

JSW USA is part of the diversified USD 24 billion JSW Group. Diane Farrell, Deputy Under Secretary for International Trade from the Department of Commerce, said India has the largest country delegation to the SelectUSA Investment Summit.

The SelectUSA Investment Summit is the highest-profile event in the US to facilitate business investment by connecting thousands of investors, companies, economic development organisations (EDOs), and industry experts to make deals happen.

The overall ties between India and the US have witnessed a major upswing following Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s historic state visit to Washington in June last year, followed by US President Joe Biden’s trip to India last September for the G20 summit.

US National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan travelled to India last week and called on Prime Minister Modi and other senior Indian leaders, becoming the first top American official to visit New Delhi after the new government was formed in the country.

During his meeting with Sullivan, Modi reaffirmed his commitment to continue to strengthen the Comprehensive Global Strategic Partnership for the global good and take it to greater heights in the new term.