Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi has urged leading US technology companies to explore India as a destination for manufacturing and innovation.
He met with tech CEOs in New York a day after attending the annual meeting of the Quad countries, which includes the United States, Australia and Japan.
India is positioning itself as an alternative to China to attract global companies looking to diversify their supply chains.
The country has focused particularly on semiconductor manufacturing in recent years but still lags far behind major suppliers such as China and Taiwan.
Modi’s meeting with tech leaders on Monday was attended by 15 top CEOs, including Google’s Sundar Pichai, Adobe’s Shantanu Narayen, IBM’s Arvind Krishna and NVIDIA’s Jensen Huang.
Speaking at the meeting, Modi said, “they can jointly develop, jointly design and jointly manufacture in India for the world.”
The roundtable discussed the use of technology in initiatives that “have the potential to revolutionize the global economy and human development,” India’s Ministry of External Affairs said in a statement.
Modi also addressed a rally of Indian-Americans whom he called the country’s “brand ambassadors” and told crowd of 15,000 in New York that India plays a vital role in “global development, global peace, global climate action, global innovation, global supply chains”.
On Saturday, Modi met US President Joe Biden on the sidelines of the Quad summit and the two countries signed several agreements.
The India-US semiconductor pact – which they described as a “landmark agreement” – aims to set up a fabrication plant that will produce chips for national security, next-generation telecommunications and green energy applications, a source said. general release.
This is India’s first such project with the United States, under which it will supply chips to the US armed forces, allied militaries and the Indian military.
Before efforts India’s efforts to build a domestic semiconductor manufacturing industry have yet to yield the desired results. But as the US aims to build resilience against China’s semiconductor industry — critical to modern technology — the deal has given India new impetus.
Indian Express newspaper reported that the factory will focus on “three pillars essential to modern warfare: advanced sensors, advanced communications and high-power electronics.”
This is Modi’s first visit to the United States since he was elected to a third term in June and comes weeks before the US presidential election, where Democrats are running for re-election against Republican former President Donald Trump.
Last week, Trump declared that Modi was “a great guy” and that he would meet him. But Indian diplomats have been silent on the meeting and so far no meeting has taken place.
On Saturday, Quad leaders issued a joint communique focused primarily on maritime security in the Indo-Pacific region.
“We strongly oppose any destabilizing or unilateral actions that seek to change the status quo through force or coercion… We envision a region where no nation dominates and no nation is dominated – where all nations are free from coercion and can exercise their right to self-determination to determine their future,” declare read.
Analysts said the statement did not name China but much of the message was aimed at the country. They also noted that the language appeared much stronger.
“The language in the joint statement on provocations in the South China Sea, while not directly mentioning China, is stronger than ever,” said Michael Kugelman, director of the South Asia Institute at the Wilson Center in Washington. “And that’s because all four Quad countries are increasingly concerned about the escalation of Chinese activities there.”
Quad partners also announced expanding maritime surveillance, a pilot logistics network for natural disasters and a cervical cancer project.
