• CALIFORNIA BUSINESS ROUNDTABLE PARTNERS WITH NASSCOM TO PROMOTE STRONG BILATERAL TRADE ENGAGEMENTS THROUGH THE VISIT OF INDIAN UNION MINISTER FOR ELECTRONICS & INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY
SAN FRANCISCO, August 28, 2018 : Ravi Shankar Prasad, Union Minister for Electronics & IT, Law &
Justice, Government of India today participated in a series of in-depth discussions and meetings with CEOs and senior executives from some of California’s most prominent businesses including VC’s focused on the Indian market.
He also met business leaders of the Indian technology companies successfully operating in the US market, making investments, generating jobs and fueling an innovation growth story in the US. The meetings discussed the need to work collectively to better manage technology challenges like data privacy and security issues, especially in the context of next-gen. technologies i.e. AI, IoT, big data in priority sectors that have huge social impact including healthcare, fin-tech and social inclusion.
The Minister’s visit, was facilitated by NASSCOM, the Indian trade association representing the $167 billion Indian IT industry, in partnership with California Business Roundtable and other local partner organisations. Debjani Ghosh, President, NASSCOM said, “As representative of companies across the globe, we have always believed in pushing boundaries to expand business opportunities. We would like to thank the Minister for enabling us to start the process to build a robust ecosystem for Indiabased companies in California and across US.
We are confident that the digital transformation opportunities in India, as outlined by him, will open doors for investors to establish and participate in India’s rewarding growth story. With innovation and digitisation at the heart of both the countries’
DNAs, we are sure that our synergies with the business community in California, will lead to a long and fruitful symbiotic relationship.”
Minister Prasad highlighted the inclusive growth that Indian digital space had witnessed in wake of the Government led Digital India programme, and invited the tech firms in California to take advantage of the growth opportunities that India offered. “At our tour of the Wipro Innovation Center, we saw how a strong trade relationship benefits both the Indian and California economy. As world leaders in the technology arena, our two countries can build on this success to grow more jobs and create even more economic opportunities for each other. This is the message I shared with leaders from California’s business community. These partnerships make us stronger and will further cement our shared leadership in the technology industry. I look forward to new and lasting partnerships that will result from today’s meetings,” said Union Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad.
“We were honored to host Minister Prasad for a series of in-depth discussions with leading members of the California business community on ways to help create new economic opportunities for both India and California. The technology industry in this state is critical in helping to create and grow jobs and our state heavily relies on the Bay Area and Silicon Valley for its economic stability. New and expanded relationships between our two countries will only strengthen both economies,” said Rob Lapsley, President of the California Business Roundtable and co-host for today’s activities.
ABOUT THE CALIFORNIA BUSINESS ROUNDTABLE : The California Business Roundtable is a non-partisan organization comprised of the senior executive leadership of the major employers throughout the state – with a combined workforce of more than half a million employees. For more than thirty-five years the Roundtable has identified the issues critical to a healthy business climate and provided the leadership needed to strengthen California’s economy and create jobs.
