OIFC Indian diaspora business meet held at Los Angeles
By Sreejith Vallikunnu
The Overseas Indian Facilitation Center (OIFC) has launched India Corporate Internship initiative during an Indian Diaspora business meet held in Los Angeles on the occasion of the regional Pravasi Bharatiya divas.
Starting from summer 2016, 60 paid internships will be offered at 23 top Indian companies to students of Indian origin.
According to OIFC officials, the internships are set up in collaboration with the consulate general of India in San Francisco and a number of Indian community organizations in the United States. The internships are a window to the Indian work culture and an opportunity to connect to roots and experience working in a multi-cultural environment, the officials said.
Speaking on the occasion,AK Agarwal, secretary, ministry of overseas Indian Affairs and chairman of overseas Indian Facilitation Center, said: “The Indian government has a keen desire to engage with the Indian Diaspora and to invite them to participate in India’s economic Growth story.”
He offered the services of the OIFC to facilitate overseas Indians’ investments from the United States into India.
The OIFC is also going to start India fellows program for young Diaspora entrepreneurs at the Indian School of Business (Hyderabad). The program is designed for the Indian Diaspora and it focuses on the Indian economy and doing business in India.
The year-long engagement program includes a special 10-day residential program in India, curated networking opportunities with Indian Entrepreneurs, CEOspeak and other webinars, meetings with senior government officials as well as domain experts.
OIFC will also work with partners in USA to organize visits to India by business delegations of overseas Indians, under the “Business Connect” Initiative.
Arun Singh, Indian ambassador to the United States, pointed out that Indian Americans were contributing to the US economy significantly and called them on to explore opportunities to engage in the new focus areas of the Government of India, such as Digital India, Make in India, Startup India and renewable energy.
Chandrajit Banerjee, Director General, Confederation of Indian Industry and Co-chair of OIFC, noted that the Indian diaspora in the US has contributed tremendously to shaping the brand image of India in this country and the story of India was moving towards states of India.
On the occasion, panel discussions were held on various topics such as, “Investment opportunities in clean & renewable energy sector in India”, “Technology partnerships, investments & innovation through the Digital India initiative”and “Impact investments into social enterprises in India”.
OIFC is set up as a public private partnership between the Ministry of Overseas Indian Affairs, the Government of India and the Confederation of Indian Industries (CII) to enhance economic engagement of Indian Diaspora with India.
A delegation of 34 members, led by Deep Kapuria, chairman, Hi Tech Gears Ltd, and leaders from Infosys, TATA Consultancy Services, Wipro LLC, Fox Mandal & Co, and the Center for Innovation, Incubation & Entrepreneurship, attended the meet.
The delegation included Jupally Krishna Rao, Minister for Industry, Govt of Telangana; IYR Rao, Chief Secretary, Government of Andhra Pradesh; and senior officials from Haryana State Industrial & Infrastructure Development Corporation (HSIDC), Department of Industries, Government of Jharkhand; and the Department of NRI Affairs, the Government of Kerala.