India pitches for US investment in urban sector

India has strongly pitched for US investments in its urban sector missions, highlighting various initiatives of the government for recasting the country's urban landscape.
Addressing the US policy makers, officials and corporate leaders here yesterday, Urban Development Minister M Venkaiah Naidu listed out various schemes of government under urban sector such as Smart City Mission, Atal Mission for Rejuvenation and Urban Transformation, Swachh Bharat Mission and Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (Urban).
"Naidu has strongly pitched for US investments in urban sector in India explaining the opportunities under new initiatives of the government to a host of US policy makers, officials and corporate," Urban Development Ministry said in a statement today.

Naidu held "extensive" discussions with US Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Global Markets Arun Kumar, former New York Mayor and founder of Bloomberg Philanthropies Michael Bloomberg, Deputy Mayor of New York Alicia Glen and officials of US Trade Development Agency.
He also held talks with chief executives and senior officials of several leading companies like KPMG, IBM and Master Card, besides addressing US-India Business Council.
Bloomberg, whose organisation is associated with holding Smart City Challenge competition in India, acknowledged the "new vigour" for recasting the Indian urban landscape and said that it is a "win-win situation" for all, the statement said.

The US companies told Naidu that they are working on various proposals to take advantage of investment opportunities under Smart City Mission and other initiatives, it said.
United States Trade Development Agency (USTDA) has already inked MoUs with the governments of Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan and Andhra Pradesh for assisting in developing Allahabad, Ajmer and Visakhapatnam as smart cities.