A trade mission, comprising 50 delegates led by Washington governor Christine Gregoire, today signed a ‘joint statement of interest’ with the Andhra Pradesh (AP) government for collaboration on trade, commerce and culture between the two states.
The current trade mission, which is on a reciprocal visit to a 25-member delegation’s visit from Andhra Pradesh to Washington to promote Brand Hyderabad in particular and the state in general in 2010, comprised 50 members, including 10 companies that are into information technology (IT) services business.
The signing of the joint statement of interest is aimed at forging relationships in the areas of IT, biotechnology, skills development, agriculture, horticulture, clean energy, and health and hygiene.
As part of the mission, Gregoire visited the Manikonda campus of Infotech Enterprises Limited, a Hyderabad-based provider of engineering services and solutions company.
The commercial port city of Seattle in Washington state is home to multinationals like aircraft manufacturer Boeing, which is one of the clients of Infotech, Microsoft, Starbucks Coffee Company and e-commerce player Amazon.
Speaking on the occasion, BVR Mohan Reddy, chairman and managing director of Infotech Enterprises Limited, said that the Washington-AP cooperative initiative was a great one and will improve the business relationships between the two states.
“A number of people think that India actually gets a lot of jobs from the US. But the truth is that Indian companies are also creating a lot of jobs back in the US,” he said.
Citing foreign secretary Ranjan Mathai’s recent statement that the Indian IT industry in the US had contributed $15 billion in taxes (including income and payroll taxes) alone in the last five years, Reddy said Indian companies added 280,000 jobs in the US, including 200,000 locals, and had invested over $5 billion in acquiring 128 companies in the US in the recent past.
“We (Infotech) now have 1,800 people, including 600 in a joint venture, in the US. Of the 1,200 directly employed by us, there are 800 US citizens and 400 that have gone from India. We will maintain the same ratio in the coming years,” he added.