American companies plan to invest $42 billion in India over the next two-three years following the positive global investor sentiment in India and in Prime Minister Narendra Modi, a senior Government official said.

Speaking to newspersons, the official said that during the Prime Minister’s recently concluded visit to the US, a quick survey done among members of the United States India Business Council showed that they plan to invest $42 billion in India.

“The bottomline was that all of them were very positively inclined. They committed to expand their investment portfolio in India. USIBC did a survey of 20 per cent or 1/5th of its members and they indicated that they were willing to invest $42 billion in India. So if you see how much the remaining 80 per cent could get it would top $100 billion,” the official said.

The announcement about US companies being keen to invest billions of dollars in India comes close on the heels of Chinese companies planning to invest heavily in India, an announcement that was made during the recently concluded visit of Chinese President Xi Jinping to India. Japan has also committed to investing $35 billion over the next five years in India during Modi’s visit to that country in September.

During various meetings with business leaders in the US, the issue of taxation and ease of doing business here was consistently raised, the official added pointing out that investors are hoping that the absolute majority that the BJP has in Parliament will help Modi deliver on the promises made. “They seem to very strongly want the Prime Minister to bring to the Centre the kind of ease of business they found in Gujarat,” the official said.

EXIM Bank of the US will provide $1 billion in concessional financing to Indian Renewable Energy Development Agency, apart from the investments committed by US companies, the official said.

Game changer

Terming the visit as a “game changer,” and one that is set to put India-US relations on a new and higher trajectory, the official said among the major takeaways from the visit were the establishment of the India US Investment Initiative which will focus on raising investments by institutional investors and corporate entities.

Besides, the infrastructure collaboration platform is also being set up to enhance participation of US companies in infrastructure projects here.

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