Congress' jibe over PM Modi meeting with US CEOs

NEW DELHI: Taking potshots at Prime Minister Narendra Modi over his meeting with CEOs in US, Congress today said for all the "hype and hoopla" it was a "damp squib".

The party said of those who participated only one firm falls in the list of top 20 of the Fortune 500 companies and that all the 17 companies already have investment in India.

"For all the hype and hoopla of Modi meeting with CEOs with the purpose of regenerating lost confidence in India as an investing destination and bringing-in much needed foreign investment, the list of participants present in the meeting tells a story that could at the most be described as a damp squib," Ajay Maken, General Secretary, in charge of the party's communication department, said.

He said that while amongst the participants only one company falls in the list of top 20 of the fortune 500 companies, only four companies that Modi met are listed in the top fifty of the list.

"It is to be noted that amongst the representatives of 17 companies that Modi met in the US, all 17 already have investment in India," Maken said.

According to him, General Electric was the only company in the top 20 of the Fortune 500 list.

Over a breakfast meeting with captains of 11 large American corporations, Modi had yesterday pitched for big-ticket investments to develop India's infrastructure and create more jobs and enhance the quality of life.

Those present at the meeting included Mastercard CEO Ajay Banga, Cargill's President and CEO David W MacLennan, Caterpillar's Douglas Oberhelman, AES' Andres Gluski, Merck's Kenneth Frazier, Co-founder and Co-CEO of Carlyle Group David Rubenstein, Hospira's Michael Ball and Warburg Pincus' Charles Kaye.

The breakfast meet was followed by one-on-one meetings with six CEOs of Boeing, KKR, BlackRock, IBM, General Electric and Goldman Sachs.