'For India & US Business Ties, Time is to Leverage the Business Potential and Opportunities'

At this time when India and US bilateral relations are becoming, Indo-American Chamber of Commerce is organizing 10^th Indo-US Economic Summit. “There is a clear need for discovering new and emerging opportunities in order to boost the bilateral trade and investments between India and the US,” says Asoke K Laha, President of Indo-American Chamber of Commerce in an exclusive interaction with Faiz Askari of SMEStreet.

With 40 years of professional experience in software industry, Mr. Laha, is the Founder, President and Chief Executive Officer of Interra Information Technologies. After taking the responsibilities of president of the chamber, Mr Laha shared an overview about India-US business relations and priorities ahead.

The edited excerpts:

Congratulations from SMEStreet, on becoming the president of Indo-American Chamber of Commerce. Now, what are the key priority areas for your office for next one year or so?

We are dedicated towards bringing the business communities of India and United States together. The main idea is to create a business friendly atmosphere. However, the focus areas for us are services sector, IT & Cyber Security, Media & Entertainment, E-Commerce, Hospitality, Tourism, Education & Skill Development and so on. The objective behind this initiative is to contribute growth in business partnerships between Indian and American firms.

According to your observations, what are the key issues of Indian SMEs with regards to expansion?

Indian SMEs have great potential with regards to talent. The entrepreneurs are growth oriented but the missing element for their growth is – proper guidance and support mechanism. Indian SMEs must understand that global opportunities are knocking their doors and it is high time for Indian entrepreneurs to look beyond the conventional.  Indo-American Chamber of Commerce is an organization which will help and promote those SMEs and entrepreneurs who wish to look at US as a market for their business.

Please inform about the upcoming 10^th Indo-US Economic Summit in New Delhi. What are the key attractions of this event?

This year, the summit is happening at a very important time when India-US relations are taking the centre stage of the world. Key policy makers will participate in the event and will address some of the important issues related to India-US business ties.

The summit will be attended by prominent stakeholders of India US Business fraternity from Indian government, US Embassy and Indian and US Industries.

What is the specialty of IACC from the perspective of Indian SMEs?

Our organization represents the collectively over 2100 companies from large US and Indian Corporates, MNCs, mid‐ level companies and professionals. As a organization, we are focused on raising key issues in order to enhance India and US business relations better and better.

Indo-American Chamber of Commerce, established in 1968 is a non-government, industry led and industry-managed organization, playing a proactive role in India’s development process and serves as a much needed link between the business communities of India and the United States of America. IACC is the only bilateral Chamber of Commerce in India, which is committed to development of Indo-US business and trade relations.

The major objective of IACC is to promote Indo-American business, trade and economic relations. IACC promotes bilateral trade, investment and technology transfer, facilitates business collaborations, joint ventures, marketing tie-ups and strategic alliances through a set of proactive business-oriented initiatives. In its four decades of existence, IACC has established operational connectivity with a host of business, research and developmental institutions in India and US in order to leverage each other’s capabilities for enhancing Indo-US business relations. The geographical spread of IACC is unique as it operates through 11 offices located throughout the country. These are in Ahmedabad, Bangalore, Bhubaneswar, Chennai, Cochin, Delhi, Hyderabad, Kolkata, Mumbai, Pune and Varanasi.