Stating that the future of the Indian economy seemed bright, a US official on Friday said corruption and lack of transparency were the challenges faced by Indian and other companies.
India is likely to become the world's third largest economy by 2030, and the largest by 2050, US assistant secretary of state (Bureau of South and central Asian affairs) Robert O Blake said, adding Indian and other companies said corruption and lack of transparency were a challenge.
"India ranks 134 out of 183 countries in the World Bank's index of 'Ease of Doing Business' and I am confident that Indian business and policy makers together will overcome these challenges to unleash even greater growth to benefit all," Blake said during a seminar in Kolkata.
He said, "The incredible growth of Indian economy has resulted in positive spillover effect for the US between 2002-2009, US goods exports to India quadrupled, growing from USD 4.1 billion to more than USD 16.4 billion in 2009." "US services exports to India more than tripled from USD 3.2 billion to USD 9.9 billion during the period," he added.
Last year, US-India trade in goods broke a record with US exports increasing by 17% and US imports from India rising by 40%, he said. "This surge of nearly 30% to USD 48.8 billion in goods trade moved India up two notches to become our 12th largest goods trading partner. This positive trend continues, with two-way trade up 19 per cent in the first quarter of 2011, over the same period last year," he added.
{{/usCountry}}Last year, US-India trade in goods broke a record with US exports increasing by 17% and US imports from India rising by 40%, he said. "This surge of nearly 30% to USD 48.8 billion in goods trade moved India up two notches to become our 12th largest goods trading partner. This positive trend continues, with two-way trade up 19 per cent in the first quarter of 2011, over the same period last year," he added.
{{/usCountry}}"Robust two-way trade means citizens from Kolkata to Kansas will see the benefits of our trade agreement," he said.