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Ambassador: Trade opportunities abound to and from India
By Dan McCue
Staff Writer
A middle class that’s growing exponentially and a work force rife with workers skilled in the high-tech and service industries means ample opportunity for companies in South Carolina to profit from trade with India, the country’s ambassador to the U.S. said during a visit to Charleston.
Ambassador Raminder Singh Jassal, who is also deputy chief of India’s Mission to the United States in Washington, D.C., was in Charleston by invitation of the S.C. World Trade Center.
In addition to meeting with business leaders at a series of WTC-sponsored events including a formal dinner Wednesday night at the Harbour Club, Jassal also toured the Port of Charleston and spoke to students attending summer economics programs at the College of Charleston.
While in South Carolina he also met with representatives of Gov. Mark Sanford’s office and the state Department of Commerce.
“There’s no question that trade relations between the United States and India, and between South Carolina and India in particular, are growing at an amazing clip,” Jassal said as he sipped tea in an upstairs foyer at the Harbour Club.
“In fact one of the things that has been eye-opening for me on this visit is how many business people I’ve encountered who said they’ve been importing components from India and prospering as a result.”
Jassal’s visit to Charleston was particularly timely given that it coincided with the announcement of an accord between the United States and India on civilian nuclear cooperation.
The deal, which gives India access to U.S. technology in return for allowing the country’s nuclear facilities to be opened for inspection, was reached in principle two years ago but has since been bogged down over the details.
Though the Bush administration has now come to a meeting of the minds with India over those details, the deal must still be ratified by Congress.
Still, Jassal said, announcement of the deal shows “there is an emerging strong connection between our two countries.”
“Basically, on so many levels, we’re in the process of putting in place all these pieces of cooperation,” he said.
India is already a major market for the Port of Charleston, with trade to and from the world’s second most populous nation growing five-fold in the past decade. In fact India is now the port’s third largest trading partner, representing roughly 11% of the port’s business, according to 2004 data.
In 2006 alone, Charleston handled about half of all container cargo moving between the Indian subcontinent and ports from Florida to Virginia.
“And it’s not just components and textile and so forth coming from India,” Jassal emphasized. “We’re also one of the fastest-growing markets for U.S. products. So far this year, the market for U.S. goods has grown by 32%, continuing the growth trend of the past several years.”
But India’s impact on the state’s economy extends beyond the direct trade relations. The country’s airline, Air India, has announced the new Boeing 787 will be the mainstay of its future operations. Already the airline has purchased 20 of the new Dreamliners, and has options to buy seven more at a later date.
Fuselage sections for the aircraft are built and assembled in North Charleston at Vought Aircraft Industries and Global Aeronautica facilities.
The relationship between American and Indian companies got a major jumpstart in the early 1990s from economic reforms instituted by then-finance minister Dr. Manmohan Singh. Singh is now India’s prime minister, Jassal said.
“It was under his direction that India became a powerhouse in the service and IT industries, and that fostered incredible growth in our economy, allowing our citizens to buy more and more American-made goods,” he said.
According to the World Bank, India’s economy is now the fourth largest in the world in terms of personal purchasing power, and the world’s ninth largest economy overall.
The Indian economy is now growing at more than 9% a year, which is roughly three times as fast as the U.S. economy is expanding, Jassal said
“I attribute a lot of this growth to the very same factors that make India an attractive trading partner for U.S. companies,” he said. “We’re a long-time democracy, which means we enjoy political stability, and we have a regulatory scheme that makes our people feel they have a stake in our continued growth.
“We also share similarities with the U.S. in other ways, including the fact that we’re both multi-ethnic and multi-lingual countries and we share a common British heritage. Also, because we’ve been so involved in technology, pharmaceuticals and the entertainment industry, we have strong intellectual property rights protections.”
As for future growth areas in U.S./Indian trade, Jassal pointed broadly to civil aviation, automotive manufacturing, high-tech, chemicals and agriculture.
“The diversity of our respective economies lends strength to our business and economic relationship,” he said. “But as for individual opportunities, I find that business and industry have a way of nosing out those opportunities for themselves and often know better than the diplomats in terms of what’s going on out there.”
In connection with Jassal’s visit, the Port of Charleston announced that it has retained a sales representative in India to help serve the rapidly expanding trade relationship with the United States.
Anthony Lobo, who recently retired from the A.P. Moller-Maersk Group after 22 years with the company and a prior 16 years at sea, will be based in Mumbai. Most recently, Lobo served as general manager for Safmarine India, an Indian Shipping line, and he’s also currently affiliated with Titan Sea and Air Services Pvt. Ltd.
Lobo will represent the Port of Charleston with shippers, importers, logistics companies and prospective clients in India.
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