US India CEOs meet today, several US biggies not here

The absence of several high profile American CEOs such as JP Morgan's Jamie Dimon, General Electric's Jeffrey Immelt and Boeing's Jim McNerney, who had accompanied President Barack Obama in his last visit to India in November 2010, may rob some lustre from the India-US CEO Forum meeting taking place today after a gap of two years.

Honeywell chief David Cote, who co-chairs the bilateral CEO panel, will be flanked by Pepsico's Indra Nooyi, Mastercard's Ajay Banga, Westinghouse president and CEO Daniel Roderick, Disney's Robert Iger and Arne Sorensen who leads Marriott International, as representatives of US Inc, along with a few others.

The Indo-US CEOs forum was last reconstituted in 2009 with 12 CEOs from each country. According to officials aware of the development, India has now nominated several new members into the Forum such as Adani group chief Gautam Adani, ADAG's Anil Ambani and Mahindra group's Anand Mahindra, among others.

"The US side hasn't formally changed its membership, but since a few of its members are unable to come this time, other US CEOs who have great interest in the Indian story have been co-opted for the meeting," said the official. The CEOs' forum was first set up in 2005 for greater involvement of private sector in discussion on issues involving trade and investment.

Industry officials conceded that the representation from American businesses isn't as 'heavy-weight' as in 2010, but attributed their absence to several factors, most importantly the fact that US firms are in the midst of 'earnings season'.

"There are two other reasons some CEOs couldn't make it. One is that such bilateral visits usually happen after months of planning, but this time, there was only a short notice of about two months," said an industry official.

That there was a very large delegation of US investors in India less than two weeks ago, for the Vibrant Gujarat summit, has also affected attendance. "It's difficult to expect top CEOs to return to India in less than two weeks," the official pointed out, as the Vibrant Gujarat summit concluded on January 13.

The US India Business Council, which also led a strong business delegation during President Obama's last India visit in November 2010, had said in a statement that it was bringing the largest ever U.S. business delegation to the summit in Gandhinagar.

Following the CEO forum meeting, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and President Obama would address industry captains jointly at the US India Business Summit this evening.