New Delhi: A day after the much talked-about meeting with Tesla and Twitter owner Elon Musk, Prime Minister Narendra Modi held meetings with more business leaders Wednesday, including heads of multinational conglomerate General Electric, and technology giants Micron and Applied Materials – a move that is expected to bring in more investment into India.
While Musk has said the company would try to bring its electric cars to India “as soon as humanly possible”, Applied Materials plans to open an innovation centre in the country.
Modi is also expected to meet more business leaders, including from FedEx, Adobe and Mastercard, in the last two days of his visit to the US, which ends on 24 June.
On Friday, Modi will attend a “CEO reception” of business leaders from the US as well as Indian companies.
On Wednesday, the Prime Minister met Gary E. Dickerson, President and CEO of Applied Materials in Washington D.C., and invited the company — which provides materials engineering solutions for chip manufacturing — to contribute in strengthening the semiconductor ecosystem in India.
According to an official statement, the Prime Minister also invited Applied Materials to develop process technology and advanced packaging capabilities in India, while discussing its potential collaboration with academic institutions in India to create a skilled workforce.
Following the meeting, Dickerson said he was “so impressed” with India and that the opportunity for India’s growth in the semiconductor industry was now. “This is India’s time to drive incredible growth. India is a trusted partner and many countries around the world see the trust and tremendous talent that India has,” he told news agency ANI.
“I deeply believe this is India’s time to shine. We will be announcing soon an innovation centre in India that will focus on innovation in equipment. We have a very high confidence that working together with India, we can create tremendous success,” he added.
Modi, who arrived in Washington D.C. on 21 June, also met with Sanjay Mehrotra, CEO of Micron Technology, and invited the chip manufacturer to boost semiconductor manufacturing in India.
Micron has now announced plans to set up a semiconductor assembly and test facility in Gujarat.
Modi, according to an official statement, noted that India could provide competitive advantages in various parts of the semiconductor supply chain. Mehrotra described the meeting as “excellent”. “I am very impressed with the vision that he has for India and the advances that India is making. We discussed a wide range of topics and we really look forward to greater opportunities in India,” he told the media.
The Prime Minister also met H. Lawrence Culp, Jr., CEO, at multinational conglomerate General Electric, and invited GE to play a greater role in the aviation and renewable energy sector in India.
“Prime Minister appreciated GE for its long-term commitment of manufacturing in India. Prime Minister and Mr. Culp, Jr. discussed GE’s greater technology collaboration to promote manufacturing in India,” an official statement said.
After meeting Modi on Tuesday, Musk had said Modi “really cares about India because he’s pushing us to make significant investments in India, which is something we intend to do”.
Also read: Modi & Manmohan only Indian PMs to go on ‘official state visit’ to US. Here’s what that means