Visas issues much less part of conversation with Indians, says US envoy.
AB Wire
WASHINGTON, DC: Ambassador Richard Verma arrived in New Delhi as America’s top envoy in India at the beginning of the year. One of his first assignments in the Indian capital was overseeing President Barack Obama’s historic trip to the city, as a guest of honor at the Republic Day. Verma spoke at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington, DC, on June 5, 2015, about the progress made during the first six months of his tenure. He also answered questions from moderator Richard Rossow, and the audience. Below is a transcript of his interaction with Rossow, the Wadhwani Chair in U.S.-India Policy Studies at CSIS. Questions and answers have been edited for clarity.
Richard Rossow: Ambassador Verma, before you went [to Delhi], we had a couple of conversations and we talked a lot about Indian states. .. [You] show up as the Ambassador of the United States [in Indian state capitals]. How does that conversation go? What do they look for from the United States, in terms of partnerships? What is it that they think they can offer? Can you give us a sense, now that you went to a number of [states]?
Richard Verma: [It’s] been really exciting, frankly, to go in and meet with chief ministers, who want to talk about how hospitable their state is to foreign investment and to American corporate interests, so that they can come in and help jumpstart the economy in that region. I will just give you a couple of examples. You go into some states, and they now talk about a single window for regulatory approvals, where you go in and you don’t go to 80 different places. I think it’s commonly [said] that to build a hotel in India, it requires about 80 permits. They are now talking about going to one window for regulatory approvals. I am not sure what happens behind that window! That is a good development. They talk similarly about the ability to get land, if needed, in a fair and transparent way. They talk about the court system, and the tax system. [We] call it a race to the top because it really is a very healthy competition taking place among the states, not just for US companies, but for investment across India, investment from Europe and beyond Asia well. It is a very, very good and encouraging sign.
Rossow: Some of the big initiatives that we have from Washington to Delhi now… let’s just say like defense technology and trade initiative… Do they make connection between high-level issues that you deal with in Delhi, with how that could actually — you know FDI caps, things like that — do they make that connection, or is a very commercial deal-oriented when you get to the state level?
Verma: I think they make the connection. I think, look, this notion of ease of doing business … it is many different things. It’s a patchwork of many different things. It’s not a switch that you just flip and all of a sudden business becomes better overnight. It is giving people confidence, like I said, in the legal system. So this development of commercial courts is very important. It is about developing confidence in intellectual property enforcement regimes. It is about tax certainty, it is about land, it is about transparency in decision-making, speed of decision-making. So it’s all these things. Some of those are directed by the center, some of those are by the states. It is a general perception that investors will be treated fairly, and India is open for business. And that if there are disputes, there… are mechanisms to handle the disputes fairly and swiftly. It is a mix of center and states. Look, they are a federal system, and we are a federal system. We see the same… Sometimes there are tensions in this relationship. I think that people do appreciate that there is a range of things that have to be done in order to improve that [ease of doing business] ranking, for example.
Rossow: Looking at the back and forth nature of the business relationship, or even broader business relationship. When you go in [to] meet with government officials, with private sector … what, in the six months that you have been out there, are the recurring themes, problems that they have with policies here? What are the things they bring up regularly? Is it focused on visas, or is there a new generation of issues, is it typical ones that we have been hearing for many years?
Verma: You are talking about American…?
Rossow: Indian companies, Indian government, what are the things, the changes they want here, that they think will facilitate a deeper relationship?
Verma: I’m glad you mentioned that point because so often we talk about the changes that need to occur in Delhi. We forget about the changes that need to occur in Washington. The fact is that there have been changes in Washington from export control reform to talks the Indian government likes to see, for example, on social security Totalization talks [that] will be upcoming, talks on technology transfer, not just in the defense space, but the clean energy space as well. Trust me, it is a two-way conversation. I would say visas is much less part of the conversation. I think people should know that the [US embassy and consulates in India] issued over a million visas last year. We are on a 30 percent increase this year. That number shows no sign of dropping. India continues to get 65 percent, the dominant share of H-1B visas, 35 percent of the L1, or intra-company visas. Frankly, I am hearing less about individual … visa cases. What I am really excited about is the interest in Indian companies, in Indian investors creating opportunities in the United States as well. That is exciting. The two-way trade numbers are up and the investment numbers [as well]. It’s really great to talk about jobs creation in both places.
Rossow: It still feels from Washington like, on the economic front, things aren’t going that well. But the numbers show a real big pop since the elections. FDI is way up is up, FII is way up, trade is coming up nicely. So it does feel like there is a bit of disconnect between the sense here in Washington versus the number that you see.
Verma: I think people, whether they are in the United States, or India, they want change faster. That’s understandable. Voters, I think, in both of our countries sometime have a short span that they want to give to political officials. We understand that in both countries. I think you are right: if you look at the investment numbers, if you look at inflation [which] remains low, if you look at the economic growth numbers, they remain high. Now experts would say that India could do much better, and there could be much bigger numbers posted. But look, everyone has to operate within the system that they have politically and economically. I think you are right. I think the story is still very positive. That is something I wanted to convey here.
Rossow: You talked a lot about the work that you are doing to further America’s national objectives in engaging India on security and economic front. For you personally, six months in now, are there a couple of specific things for that, five minutes a week, when you get to direct yourself a little bit more, instead of reacting to the many things happening around you? Are there a couple of issue areas that you personally want to kind of put your stamp on? What’s your sense on that?
Verma: Part of the reason I have done 16 trips [within India] is not just because I would like to go to the airports… I think the Delhi airport was voted the number one airport in the world. [It] is to go reach a segment of people that may not have heard from a US ambassador before, may not why this relationship matters. It’s like living here [in Washington] for 20 years. You need to get out to understand what the rest of the country thinks and feels and wants. So I have been really trying to get out of Delhi and talk to nontraditional groups, groups that wouldn’t ordinarily be involved in foreign policy, or trade or geopolitical discussion… young people… people who are may be in villages, people who may not be in urban centers. I would like to do more of that. And it is amazing what kind of impact you can have by just showing that we really do care, we do really care about India’s growth, we care about people’s prosperity, we care about bringing people from the bottom of the pyramid into the middle of the pyramid. The more that we can do … it doesn’t take a lot of money, frankly. Those are not big ticket items. I have sat with migrant communities that make cricket bats for examples on the side of a highway. And the reason I was there was because USAID funds a solar power battery pack that allows them to have power in order to shave the wood, and in order to power the lights. It also keeps their family safe. They had a lot of kids running around. That is a small ticket item, having a huge impact on a community. So the more of that we can do and talk about, I think the better it will be.