The US has huge investment surpluses that can be used in developing infrastructure in India and make it a manufacturing base to help American economy grow and provide goods and services at affordable and competitive prices, Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal said on Thursday. He also said that going forward, it is in the interest of both countries to strengthen their strategic partnership into a more comprehensive economic and trade partnership also.

India, he said, has several goods and services to offer to the US which are needed by consumers there. Apart from pharmaceutical products, India can provide trained paramedical staff, IT professionals, textiles, leather, gems and jewellery as these sectors hold tremendous potential in America, Goyal said.

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"The US has huge investment surpluses which can be used in India for promoting infrastructure investments (and) also to make India a manufacturing base to help you (USA) grow your economy, to help provide goods and services to you at affordable and competitive prices. For example, India can bring down the US healthcare cost very significantly," he said at USIBC India Ideas Summit. Goyal added that India is looking at a national infrastructure pipeline, which will provide huge opportunities of over USD 1.4 trillion to boost investments in the infrastructure sector for which the government here has provided an enabling environment.

"We have more liberal FDI rules, we have reduced corporate tax, we have a simplified tax regime, a single-window clearance mechanism for all approvals, huge land bank to set up manufacturing bases or industrial clusters, we have removed and sorted out legacy issues of the past like the retrospective income tax law," the minister said. He added that India has a huge talent pool that the US can leverage.

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Goyal said India is recognised as a major defence partner of the US and can also become a big market for American companies in other sectors. "Multiple dialogues across energy, health and innovation can enable us to have better business-to-business engagement. India and the US are working together to develop resilient supply chains in advanced technology areas and we need to explore several more areas," he said.

Talking about areas for increasing cooperation, the minister said that sectors like electronics, pharma and healthcare, space and biotechnology hold tremendous potential. "We must leverage our complementary strengths in technology, finance, production, supply and emerging start-up ecosystem with fintech, edtech and health services taking the lead," he added.