Prime Minister Narendra Modi met leading American CEOs in Washington on Thursday to discuss opportunities for investment that have been thrown open in India.

He held one-on-one meetings with CEOs of Qualcomm, Adobe, First Solar, General Atomics and Blackstone in Washington. Two of the CEOs, Shantanu Narayen from Adobe and Vivek Lall from General Atomics, are Indian-Americans.

According to an official statement, during the meeting, they discussed investment opportunities offered in India’s telecommunications and electronics sector. This included the recently launched Production Linked Incentive Scheme (PLI) for Electronics System Design and Manufacturing as well as developments in the semiconductor supply chain in India. Strategies for building the local innovation ecosystem in India were also discussed.

PM Modi’s meeting assumes importance as there is major thrust among the Indo-Pacific partner countries to reduce dependence on China in semiconductors and develop independent supply chains. India with its huge market offers a major opportunity for the US tech giants as Washington pushes through its policy of decoupling from China.  

PM Modi will also meet US Vice President Kamala Harrison Thursday, and hold bilateral meetings with Australia's PM Scott Morrison and Japan's Yoshihide Suga.

This will be the first in-person meeting between US Vice President Harris and PM Modi, after the two talked over phone in June amid the deadly COVID-19 wave in India.

PM Modi, will travel to New York on September 24 and address the UN General Assembly the next day.

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