PM's US Visit: Modi's 10-trillion-dollar breakfast with US CEOs, asks investors to shed fears

NEW YORK: Prime Minister Narendra Modi had a $10-trillion Monday morning as he pitched India to some of the largest global investors and financiers, asking them to look afresh at the country and urging them to shed any fears that they might have developed about investing in the country in recent years.

After storming Madison Square Garden on Sunday, Modi kicked off one of the most extensive interactions between the American business community and the Indian government ahead of his meetings with President Barack Obama.

Over a series of one-on-one meetings and a power breakfast, Modi met the top bosses of financial biggies such as BlackRock’s Laurence D Fink, Lloyd Blankfein of Goldman Sachs and KKR’s Henry Kravis, and CEOs of manufacturing firms, such as Boeing’s James McNerney, Jeffrey Immelt of General Electric and IBM’s Virginia Rometty.

Other top executives he met included Eric Schmidt (Google), Kenneth Frazier (Merck), David W Maclennan (Cargill), Andres Gluski (AES), David M Rubenstein (Carlyle Group), Douglas Oberhelman (Caterpillar), Charles R Kaye (Warburg Pincus), Michael L Corbat (Citigroup), as well as India-born Indra Nooyi of PepsiCo and Mastercard’s Ajay Banga —with assets under management and revenues.


PepsiCo CEO and chairperson Nooyi said US industry was “very happy” to be working with a PM who answers questions brilliantly and is focused on improving the country.

In response to Modi’s call for investment in India, Blackstone is set to organise a global investors’ summit in India early next year.

The PM highlighted his government’s focus on creating a predictable and stable investment climate and making it easier to do business in India, a fact he repeated several times during his breakfast meeting with the CEOs in a bid to allay one of the biggest concerns of investors.

“I did it in Gujarat, and I will do it in India as well,” the PM told the American corporate honchos present at the meeting.

“The PM had an extremely constructive dialogue with every CEO in the room, listening intently, engaging them and responding to their specific concerns,” Mastercard CEO and president Ajay Banga, who was present at the breakfast meeting, told ET. “The PM demonstrated his focus on building a roadmap to show he is serious about changing things and executing them,” Banga added.

Retrospective rule changes have scared away companies, despite India’s tremendous market potential. Difficulties in acquiring land to set up shop, complex regulatory requirements and woeful infrastructure have also left investors cold. “India is open-minded. We want change.

Change that is not one-sided,” a tweet from foreign ministry spokesperson Syed Akbaruddin cited the PM as saying. “Want to convert the Supreme Court judgement on coal allocation into an opportunity to move forward & clean up the past,” another tweet read, highlighting the government’s resolve to fight corruption, another big concern for foreign investors in India.

Boeing CEO McNerney told the PM that the plane maker wants to accelerate engagement with India, Akbaruddin said. IBM’s Rometty discussed software for Modi’s smart city and Digital India initiatives.

Modi highlighted the ‘Make In India’ campaign he launched just before leaving for the US and urged US businesses to invest in infrastructure, manufacturing and the services sectors. “Make in India is about clear policies and willingness to execute, the PM told us, and talked about his attention to generating jobs and improving the quality of life in India. For this, he needs manufacturing, infrastructure and tourism to grow,” said Banga.