It is both interesting and revealing that while Prime Minister Narendra Modi was on his maiden official visit to the US, CEOs of two major American corporations — Amazon’s Jeff Bezos and Microsoft’s Satya Nadella — were in India; next week, it’s Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg’s turn. These, if anything, demonstrate how relations between nations are being increasingly powered not by heads of states and diplomats, but by businesses and people-to-people contact in a globalised and inter-dependent world. While the Green Revolution here in the 1960s was largely a collaborative effort between public sector breeders and government officials in the US and India, it is the likes of Monsanto, DuPont, Cargill and New Holland that are the real drivers of change in our farms today. That Modi’s packed five-day schedule included not just holding bilateral talks with US President Barack Obama and addressing the United Nations General Assembly, but also speaking to a 20,000-strong gathering of the Indian diaspora and a breakfast meeting with the chiefs of 11 large American companies, is perhaps only an acknowledgment of this reality.

It would be wrong, nevertheless, to underestimate the importance of bilateral ties and diplomacy. Investing in them matters for imparting confidence among people of two countries to work, travel and do business in each other’s territory. A country such as India, keen to attract foreign capital, especially in infrastructure and high-tech manufacturing, has to provide a stable and conducive policy environment for investments. This obviously can come only when investors believe there is a government that is business-friendly and has the mandate to do what it takes to make things happen. A primary purpose of Modi’s visit was probably to convey both messages. The promise to convert the recent Supreme Court order cancelling virtually all coal block allotments made since 1993 into “an opportunity to move forward” (presumably in the direction of de-nationalisation and opening up the sector) and to “end tax terrorism” was only part of this direct reach-out. It was almost like saying: Trust me, and I’m here for the next five years at least.

But it will take more than just personal assurances for investments, American or others, to actually start flowing in. Investors ultimately want action, not talk. Modi’s government in its four months so far has not implemented any major reforms — be it introduction of legislative changes for ushering in a nationwide Goods and Services Tax, restructuring the subsidy regime in fertilisers and food, or revising domestic natural gas prices. It is only when they see these reforms happening will businesses start believing in the Government’s intent, and make investments. As the virtuous cycle of investment, job creation and consumption returns, everybody would want to partake in the India growth story. And that would be the true chalein saath saath (together we go forward) moment for India’s relations — with the US and beyond.

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