Indians like America. A lot.
As much as 70% of Indians view the United States in favourable terms, according to Pew Research. More than a million Indians are expected to visit the US this year. And even if some Indians may say they dislike the US, American culture pervades the country, from Coke and McDonalds to Spider-man and Game of Thrones. And it looks like Indians like to put their money where their mouth is.
A survey of Indian companies' operations in the United States, commissioned by the Confederation of Indian Industry and carried out by GrantThornton, reveals that more than $15.3 billion in tangible investments have been made by desi firms in the US. That's Rs 97,109 crore of investments in a country that isn't exactly in the neighbourhood.
That $15.3 billion figure, for which the CII survey doesn't give a time frame, features responses from 100 Indian companies, which have a presence in all 50 states across the US as well as Washington DC. Of these 15 are mostly leased office spaces, but that still leaves 35 American states with what the report calls "tangible investments."
"More than half of these states have received over $100 million each in collective investment from Indian companies. The average amount of investment received from Indian companies per state is $433 million," the report said. That's a pretty large spread, something that CII, which aims to represent Indian industry, has sought to point out as a big positive. "With growing investments and strengthening employment generation, the economic impact of Indian companies on the US economy is increasing manifold," the report said.
Except for one problem. CII conducted the same survey in 2013 and the numbers were actually better, despite fewer companies being looked at. Examining the reach of just 68 Indian companies across 40 American states two years ago, CII concluded that Indian firms had invested $17 billion in the US economy – $2 billion more than the current survey which GrantThornton claims is the "widest outreach" effort of their surveys so far.
Additionally the difference in numbers of companies reached doesn't seem to have made a huge impact on the employment statistics that CII collected. The 2013 survey, looking at 68 Indian companies, found that they had directly created 81,000 jobs in the US. Two years later, with 32 more companies added to the survey and with the American job market having properly rebounded in the mean time, only 10,000 more jobs were added to the total impact of Indian companies in the US.
Even so, the report quotes the Reserve Bank of India saying that the US is among the top five destinations of Foreign Direct Investment from India annually and the US Department of Commerce counts India as the eight fastest-growing source of FDI in the US, as of 2013.
The survey also finds that 84% of Indian companies in the US are planning to make further investments in the next five years, or so they say at least, with as many as 90% saying they also plan to hire locally soon. That last one though might have something to do with the fact that many Americans believe Indian companies are laying off US citizens and using immigrants under the H1-B visa instead. Even if total spending looks like its coming down, according to the survey, the expected rebound of the Indian economy coupled with even further ties with the United States means this bilateral relationship is only likely to grow.
We welcome your comments at
letters@scroll.in.
As much as 70% of Indians view the United States in favourable terms, according to Pew Research. More than a million Indians are expected to visit the US this year. And even if some Indians may say they dislike the US, American culture pervades the country, from Coke and McDonalds to Spider-man and Game of Thrones. And it looks like Indians like to put their money where their mouth is.
A survey of Indian companies' operations in the United States, commissioned by the Confederation of Indian Industry and carried out by GrantThornton, reveals that more than $15.3 billion in tangible investments have been made by desi firms in the US. That's Rs 97,109 crore of investments in a country that isn't exactly in the neighbourhood.
That $15.3 billion figure, for which the CII survey doesn't give a time frame, features responses from 100 Indian companies, which have a presence in all 50 states across the US as well as Washington DC. Of these 15 are mostly leased office spaces, but that still leaves 35 American states with what the report calls "tangible investments."
"More than half of these states have received over $100 million each in collective investment from Indian companies. The average amount of investment received from Indian companies per state is $433 million," the report said. That's a pretty large spread, something that CII, which aims to represent Indian industry, has sought to point out as a big positive. "With growing investments and strengthening employment generation, the economic impact of Indian companies on the US economy is increasing manifold," the report said.
Except for one problem. CII conducted the same survey in 2013 and the numbers were actually better, despite fewer companies being looked at. Examining the reach of just 68 Indian companies across 40 American states two years ago, CII concluded that Indian firms had invested $17 billion in the US economy – $2 billion more than the current survey which GrantThornton claims is the "widest outreach" effort of their surveys so far.
Additionally the difference in numbers of companies reached doesn't seem to have made a huge impact on the employment statistics that CII collected. The 2013 survey, looking at 68 Indian companies, found that they had directly created 81,000 jobs in the US. Two years later, with 32 more companies added to the survey and with the American job market having properly rebounded in the mean time, only 10,000 more jobs were added to the total impact of Indian companies in the US.
Even so, the report quotes the Reserve Bank of India saying that the US is among the top five destinations of Foreign Direct Investment from India annually and the US Department of Commerce counts India as the eight fastest-growing source of FDI in the US, as of 2013.
The survey also finds that 84% of Indian companies in the US are planning to make further investments in the next five years, or so they say at least, with as many as 90% saying they also plan to hire locally soon. That last one though might have something to do with the fact that many Americans believe Indian companies are laying off US citizens and using immigrants under the H1-B visa instead. Even if total spending looks like its coming down, according to the survey, the expected rebound of the Indian economy coupled with even further ties with the United States means this bilateral relationship is only likely to grow.
