American companies are keen to invest in India but they want “stability, legal certainty” if they want to participate in Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s ‘Make in India’ campaign, said Nisha Desai Biswal, US Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asian Affairs.

“We believe US FDI (foreign direct investment) could double if India continues to liberalise its investment regime … We strongly support Prime Minister Modi’s Make in India campaign which envisions India as an elite manufacturing hub. But, companies involved in global manufacturing need transparency, predictability and legal certainty,” Biswal said during her address on ‘US-India Economic Relations’ here Tuesday.

She lauded some of the steps being taken by the government such as establishing a single-window clearance for foreign investors and easing for FDI restrictions in certain sectors. However, she said the US is “anxious” to have the proposed Bilateral Investment Treaty (BIT) with India.

“One of the best tools to increase US investments in India is a high-standard Bilateral Investment Treaty (BIT). A high standard BIT will send an important signal to US investors that India is indeed open for business … We realise there is some work that needs to be done before we can get there but we are anxious to get started,” Biswal said.

She said India will need investments worth $1 trillion over the next 15 years to sustain the current rate of growth in urbanisation.

“The pace and the scale of India’s urbanisation is simply staggering …India’s cities have added 90 million new residents over the last 10 years. In the next 15 years 250 million more Indians will have moved into the cities bringing the urban population to some 600 million, nearly twice the population of the entire US,” she said.

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