New Delhi, Sep 30 (PTI) In the post-pandemic world, the Indo-US relationship is ready to scale new heights and the recent meeting between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and US President Joe Biden set the tone for enhanced ties, Tata Sons Chairman N Chandrasekaran said on Thursday.
Speaking at the US-India Strategic Partnership Forum (USISPF) annual leadership summit, Chandrasekaran also said the two countries can play a significant role in the development of infrastructure in India, considering how they have helped each other during the pandemic.
“In particular, I believe the US-India relationship, bolstered by each country helping the other during this trying time, is ready to scale new heights,” he said while accepting the USISPF Global Leadership Award.
He further said,” The rebalancing of the global supply chains, transition to sustainable future, the dramatic acceleration in digital, and the future investments that are necessary in healthcare and education, provide huge opportunities for both countries to work constructively together to make the world a better place”.
Asked about the significance of the recent meeting between Modi and Biden in the US, Chandrasekaran said, “First of all, let me say that these meetings are historic, and they make a significant impact because they set the tone. US and India, all of us know, especially in business, we are natural partners and allies.”
While there may be cooperation at the defence level or any other sphere, he said, “At the business level in terms of the economic impact that we can make on each other, is just humongous.”
Stating that both leaders emphasised on how the two countries can work with each other, he said, “It’s a very strong signal, and many things will happen. And we should be at least aspiring to increase our trade…”
Reiterating that India can emerge as a “very, very important player in the rebalancing of the new global supply chain”, he said, “We should create a resilient global supply chain. We should move from just in time to just in case supply chains so that the global system doesn’t fail.”
The world faced issues in the supply chain, not only in terms of economic activity and businesses production, but also in procuring medical assistance during the pandemic, he noted.
“In the post-pandemic world, India and the US can play a significant role in the development of infrastructure in India, in the whole digital area, and defining the complex issues around data,” Chandrasekaran asserted.
Citing the example of Aadhaar, Chandrasekaran said India has built some of the leading world class platforms and more such things can be done.
“I see a very big opportunity in education, a very big opportunity in healthcare based on digital platforms that will be linked to the physical things on the ground,” he added.
The chairman of Tata Sons, the holding firm of the Tata conglomerate, also said the group is “already building a telecom network solution stack, 4G, 5G and beyond and we are investing in electronics across the board. We are looking at a number of other areas.”
Urging lessons learnt from the pandemic, such as developing the COVID-19 vaccine in such a short time, to be put to better use, he said,”So how do we leverage this speed and agility in the entire needs of all types of categories, and this is a very pivotal moment.”
While children in urban areas could learn and shop through digital means during the pandemic, a lot of village kids lost almost two years of their education because of the lack of access to infrastructure and digital devices, Chandrasekaran said.
“It is going to make a huge impact and we are going to feel that, but we should make a resolve to fix that, to provide that kind of infrastructure that is necessary,” he asserted.
More information
https://www.theweek.in/wire-updates/business/2021/09/30/del109-biz-india-us-chandrasekaran.html