PM Modi meets chief executives of five US companies

Prime Minister Narendra Modi met with Chief Executives Officers (CEOs) of major US-based companies on the first day of visit to the United States on Thursday. The one-to-one meeting was held with top five American CEO’s from different key sectors.

The prime minister’s meeting with American CEOs from five different key areas is reflective of the priorities of his government. Stephen Schwarzman, Chairman, CEO and Co-Founder of Blackstone; Vivek Lall, Chief Executive of General Atomics; Mark Widmar, CEO of First Solar; Shantanu Narayen, President and CEO of Adobe; and Cristiano Amon, CEO of Qualco attended the meetings. Two of them are Indian-Americans – Shantanu Narayen from Adobe and Vivek Lall from General Atomics. The meeting is to discuss economic opportunities in India. The president and CEO of Qualcomm, Cristiano R Amon, expressed keenness to work with India in areas such as 5G and other Digital India efforts. The meeting and Qualcomm’s assurance assumes significance as India is pushing for 5G technology. While Narayen reflects the IT and digital priority that the Indian government is pushing for, Modi’s meeting with Lall is significant as General Atomics is not only the pioneer in military drone technologies but also the world’s top manufacturer of state-of-the-art military drones, which the US shares only with its key allies and partners.

As India is taking gigantic steps in the use of solar power to meet its energy needs, the meeting with Mark Widmar is important as First Solar is a leading global provider of comprehensive photovoltaic (“PV”) solar solutions, which use its advanced module and system technology. Early this summer, the Arizona-based company announced to add 3.3 GW of capacity in a new facility in India at an estimated cost of USD684 million.