Which way will the wind blow as Barack Obama comes calling on Novem-ber 6? For the answer to that, look no further than the contingent that will waft in with him. It will have at least 150 — US-India Business Council’s Twitter site says 250 — top managers of US companies. Many of them dot the Fortune 500 list of the world’s largest companies.
The team that came with the last US President to visit India, George Bush Jr in 2006, was very different in nature, and understandably so, because the focus at that time was on the civil nuclear agreement.
With the focus sharply on business this time, the team includes Ellen J Kullman, who took charge as the chief executive of chemicals giant DuPont in January last year. Indra Nooyi, the Indian-born poster girl of the US businesswomen community and the head of beverages and foods giant PepsiCo, will be there.
Nooyi, it has been speculated, could be joining the Obama administration as advisor.
Terry McGraw, the CEO of Mc Graw Hill Companies, a leading publishing house, and also the chairman of the US Indian Business Council, is coming. So is Honeywell CEO David M Cote, who was named by Obama last year as the co-chairman of the Indo-US CEOs forum. They will have company in Louis Chenevert, chairman and CEO of United Technologies Corporation, which is into aerospace.
While the list is impressive, multinational executives say the manner in which it has been put together is even more so. They say calls went directly from the White House to the chairmen’s and CEOs’ offices, cutting through layers of communication. The calls are said to have been truly persuasive.
While Obama's schedule has been kept under tight leash due to security concerns, the The U.S-India Business Council is organising a US-Indian business and entrepreneurship summit on November 6th in Mumbai in which Obama will be the special key note speaker and address the top honchos at 5 pm which will be followed by tea and networking at 6 pm. The topic for the summit has also taken into consideration to growing concern in India about the treatment being meted out to IT companies who are seen as a cause for loss of American jobs. That is why the discussion has been aptly named as the “Two Way Highway- creating job opportunities for both the countries".
In Delhi also the business delegation will be kept busy with a summit entitled "An Agenda for Co-Creation" which is slated on 8th November and will be attended by top government representatives who include Planning Commission boss Montek Singh Ahluwhalia, Highways minister Kamal Nath. Sam Pitroda and Planning Commision member Arun Maira amongst others. The delegation also has fixed meetings with top government officials as well as industrialists in the last date of the itinery.
The India-US CEO’s council is slated to meet in Delhi coinciding with the Obama visit and will be chaired by Cote as well as Ratan Tata from the Indian side. Other members who are expected to attend the meetings include Mukesh Ambani, amongst others. .
