The launch of the office coincided with Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to Washington, DC, where he praised collaboration between the two countries and highlighted the need for further unity to meet skills gaps and develop trade ties.

Modi addressed the US House of Congress after attending the US-India Business Council’s 41st Annual Leadership Summit in the capital last week. USIBC is one of the founding partners in the US Business Centers initiative alongside Sannam S4, Citibank India, JLL and Taj Hotel and Resorts.

“We want to make India a destination which not only welcomes business but where it is easy to do business”

Speaking to Congress, Modi credited the “excellence of the American universities” for nurturing Institutes of Technlogy and Management in India.

He praised present day relations saying, “Our S&T [science and technology] collaboration continues to helps us in cracking the age-old problems in the fields of public health, education, food, and agriculture,” and said ties of commerce and investment are flourishing.

“We trade more with the US than with any other nation,” he noted.

Among the items on Modi’s “to-do list” is skilling millions of the country’s youth.

“In every sector of India’s forward march, I see the US as an indispensable partner,” he said.

“Many of you also believe that a stronger and prosperous India is in America’s strategic interest. Let us work together to convert shared ideals into practical cooperation.”

Addressing the USIBC summit, Modi said the government has prioritised improving the investment climate for foreign stakeholders.

“We want to make India a destination which not only welcomes business but where it is easy to do business,” he said. “We have largely achieved the first by drastically liberalising our foreign direct investment policies. We have made a good beginning on the second and will continue to make further improvements.”

Building stronger US-India ties is the mission of the US Business Centers project, which launched its first office in Mumbai in February.

Speaking with The PIE News, Adrian Mutton, founder and CEO of Sannam S4, said both the Mumbai and DC offices will work towards the initiative’s aim to provide expert market entry services to small- and medium-sized US companies, universities, non-profit organisations and trade associations as they enter and expand in India.

“There are very few institutions that have a real grasp of the market and are proactively tackling it,” he said. “And those that do want to do more in India are naturally cautious about doing it, how they engage, particularly with the whole agent/non-agent debate, for example,” he said.

The centres, he said, will be a platform to address the concerns institutions have about entering India, including who to work with; ensuring partners are reliable; protecting their brand; securing a return on investment; and how to get buy-in from their institution’s leadership.

“There are very few institutions that have a real grasp of the market and are proactively tackling it”

More centres are planned to roll out around India in a bid to promote US institutions, similar to campaigns carried out by national bodies in competitor countries.

“The days of plundering any market are rapidly deteriorating,” said Mutton. “Those that want to sustain their numbers are going to have to think about it when you’ve got the rise of Germany and France and Switzerland and Sweden.”

The initiative has already gained significant government support in both countries, with US consul general Thomas Vajda attending the Mumbai office opening.

The initiative has also committed to working toward a $500bn cross-border trade target originally proposed by US Vice President Joe Biden, Secretary of State John Kerry, Indian Minister of External Affairs Sushma Swaraj and several US businesses in September last year.

“Certainly for the first time since we’ve been doing business in India, the Indian government now want to listen to what people like US IBC are saying, they want to sit down with us and say tell us what can we do, how can we do it,” said Mutton.