US government wants Indian states to convince its private sector about their business opportunities

The US government wants American businesses to get to the roots of the fastest-growing economy in the world, which is why it has proposed to launch a "chief ministers' conclave," to promote commercial partnerships between Indian states and the US private sector.

The conclave would offer a platform for "leading Indian states to showcase the advantages of doing business in their states and highlight recent business environment reforms," said a fact sheet issued by the White House. However, it didn’t offer any details about the timeline of the conclave plan.

Even the Indian side did not make any mention about when and how the conclave would shape up, although PM Modi, who was the CM of Gujarat earlier, is known to be in favour of decentralizing some economic powers that are concentrated in the center and slow down the enterprise of states.

Even if Indian chief ministers travel to the US and manage to attract foreign investment, the proposals have to go through New Delhi, while in US this is not the situation. There, state governors and even county executives have got the power to decide business with foreign governments and entities. They also never shy away from talking about their own states when abroad, unlike Indian CMs who are stuck on playing the India card.

If the conclave shapes up well, it would be worth watching how the centre reacts to the newfound power of the state governments.

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