India and the US cement trade and investment ties

On behalf of India, Mr Anand Sharma, Union Minister of Commerce & Industry along with US trade representative (USTR) Ron Kirk, signed the India-US Trade Policy Forum Framework for Cooperation on Trade and Investment, in Washington recently this week. The framework aims to further the success of the trade policy forum by facilitating trade and investment flows between the two countries.

Both the ministers also announced the launch of an initiative "Integrating US and Indian small businesses into the global supply Chain", aimed at expanding trade and increasing job-creating opportunities for US and Indian small and medium-sized companies.

Addressing the august audience at the ceremony, Mr Sharma remarked that India and the US have recognised the contribution and potential of small and medium enterprises in our trade and investment agenda by adopting the SME initiative to create fresh opportunities for small and medium enterprises in both the countries and help in integrating them in the global supply chain.

Meanwhile, in a significant development, the US healthcare reform Bill has been cleared by the US House of Representatives leading to jubilation amongst Indian IT companies. The Bill proposes to create Electronic Health Records (EHRs) for all Americans by 2014, thereby opening up avenues in a US$ 20 billion market for Indian IT services firms like Infosys, Wipro, TCS, Firstsource and MindTree. The plan proposes to earmark US$ 150 billion to healthcare of which, nearly US$ 20 billion is proposed for healthcare IT alone, a bulk of which is expected to be spent on EHRs.

Indian IT firms are expected to take maximum advantage in EHR implementations, upgradation, integration of databases and inter-operability. They are also expected assist in providing solutions to the US healthcare industry to prevent leakages and reduce costs and waste.