India Inc looks forward to enhanced Indo-US ties as Joe Biden wins

New Delhi: India Inc on Sunday hailed the victory of Joe Biden in the US Presidential election, while hoping for enhanced ties and cooperation between India and the United States, especially in the aftermath of the coronavirus pandemic.

Congratulating President-Elect Biden and Vice President-Elect Kamala Harris, CII President Uday Kotak said, "with rising trade and investment ties between the two countries, the health of our economies are inextricably linked and we must work together during this critical time to reinvigorate the bilateral economic agenda - facilitating economic growth, enhancing job creation, supporting small business and enabling cooperation in investment-related movement of professionals."

With the election of Biden as President and Harris as Vice President, he said, "we are looking forward to engaging with the administration's leadership to promote post-pandemic economic stability, business collaboration, our shared democratic values and increased people-to-people ties that have defined the special India-US relationship."

Assocham Secretary General Deepak Sood said, "under the Biden-Harris leadership, the Indo-US economic ties would go from strength to strength, getting deeper into areas of advanced scientific research and development, business to business cooperation in strategic areas."

He expressed confidence that Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Biden would chalk out great cooperation in dealing with the coronavirus pandemic.

"The vaccine development, manufacture and distribution would require immense global cooperation: India and the US would surely be leading such cooperation," Sood said, while also applauding Harris' feat of becoming the first woman Vice-President of the US, saying: "You have been so gracious in hailing your Indian roots and values".

PHD Chamber of Commerce and Industry President Sanjay Aggarwal said India and the US, the world's largest democracies have always shared strong social, cultural and economic ties.

"We strongly believe that India-US partnership will be the defining relationship of the 21st century. We look forward to a continued strengthened bilateral trade and investment growth trajectory and defence cooperation between the two nations."

For Mahindra Group Chairman Anand Mahindra, the US election was also about lessons on leadership.

In a tweet he said, the lessons from the US election are, "leadership is about policy AND personality" and "Leaders will be judged by what they SAY not just what they DO. Leaders must ultimately represent everyone, not just those who voted for them (and) leaders with decency and values haven't gone out of fashion."

CII Director General Chandrajit Banerjee said, "CII looks forward to once again collaborating with President Biden and his incoming Administration."

Prior to the economic disruption caused by COVID-19, bilateral trade in goods and services in 2019, reached a peak of nearly USD 150 billion, and CII hopes this will continue to rise in the years to come, he added.

"We can aim higher to our shared goal of USD 500 billion through a new era of revitalised economic cooperation, which would be comprehensive, complementary and collaborative," Banerjee said.

The key sectors to watch for enhanced business cooperation will be energy and the green economy, defence and manufacturing, especially providing a boost to small business cooperation, as well as pharmaceuticals and healthcare - all driven by India and the US' new age businesses and disruptive innovation and technologies, he added.

Hailing Biden and Harris as the new leaders of America, Chairman and MD of JSW Group Sajjan Jindal said in a tweet, "A democratic process voted for a change in a very defining year globally! Congratulations to the American community that ensured that the democratic process was not compromised in a tough external environment."

Similarly, congratulating Biden and Harris on their victory, JSPL Chairman Naveen Jindal in a tweet hoped "to see enhanced ties and cooperation between India and the United States".