Collaboration between Indian and U.S. cos will benefit both

Amid outsourcing turning out to be a sour spot in Indo-US relations, a senior U.S. official today said collaboration between companies of the two countries would be of mutual benefit.

The U.S. Under Secretary of State Economic, Energy and Agricultural Affairs Robert Hormats also urged Indian firms to increase investment in the U.S.

"We welcome Indian investment in the U.S. and we welcome cooperation between American and Indian companies. The commercial collaboration between companies of the two countries result in mutual benefit, mutual job creation," Hormats said here while speaking at a CII event.

His remarks come a day after Commerce Minister Anand Sharma termed Ohio ban as "not welcome at all".

"Indian IT industry has made a notable contribution which is acknowledged globally, even in the U.S. It is Indian entities which are responsible for creating jobs, even now when there are big job losses," Sharma had said.

Ohio Governor Ted Strickland has banned offshore outsourcing by government departments. Earlier, the U.S. increased professional visa fees significantly to fund a $600 million programme to secure its border with Mexico.

Sharma had also cited data suggesting that Indian IT companies have created over 2.5 lakh jobs in the U.S. in the last three years.

Hormats added that the U.S. would also be interested in exporting military equipments, agricultural machinery and telecom products to India.

The Under Secretary termed the current U.S. economic recovery as slow and painful.

"We are in the process of very slow recovery, painfully slow recovery and the most disappointing part of this is very high rate of unemployment and the prospect is that it is not going to drop significantly in coming months soon," Hormats said.
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