In an effort to stimulate the new era business relations between US and India, a new representative body called the US-India Strategic Partnership Forum (USISPF) was officially launched in India. Following the meeting of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and President Donald Trump, the forum, led by the top global leaders, intends to broaden this relationship further.

“Following the success of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and President Trump’s meetings in the US in June 2017, I am incredibly confident about the powerful partnership between the US and India – which is one that I believe can serve as a model for the rest of the world,” said John Chambers, the executive chairman of Cisco Systems, who would be chairing the USISPF that was officially launched on Wednesday (2 August).

The forum plans to build on the trade ties and promote the new age business opportunities, prioritised by the Prime Minister including start-ups, education, innovation, entrepreneurship.

The forum board comprise of senior leaders and influencers including Indra Nooyi, Chairman & CEO, PepsiCo, Ajay Banga, President & CEO, MasterCard, Punit Renjen, Global CEO, Deloitte LLP, Secretary William Cohen, Chairman & CEO, The Cohen Group and others. Mukesh Aghi will lead USISPF as President and Gaurav Verma will serve as Chief Operating Officer.

Speaking at the launch, Jayant Sinha, Minister of State for Civil Aviation, elaborated on the growing air passenger traffic and the opportunities that lie for India and US to collaborate.

“The rate at which we are growing and the potential that we see, in next 10-15 years, the aviation sector in India will triple to over 500 million passenger trips. That is the kind of opportunity that companies like Boeing and Honeywell are seeing”, said the minister.

Chambers elaborated on the importance of new era based India- US business relation to drive economic growth and job creation for both the countries. He added that the US CEOs would bet on India like never before, taking the bilateral ties to another level.

Terming the ‘Digital India’ as a comprehensive framework, Chambers applauded the initiative as a model for the rest of the world.

“Digital India initiative has the ability to be inclusive in terms of how education, smart cities and health sector will change. What you see now is a potential of strategic partnership between two countries to be the model for the rest of the world," said the Chairman.

Echoing similar sentiments, Aruna Sundararajan, Secretary Department of Telecommunications highlighted the seamless integration in Silicon Valley between the US technology companies and India and leveraging the same, digital partnership could be further strengthened.

“India's digital economy stands at 15 per cent and it has the potential to increase the GDP growth of the country more than others. This strategic partnership will be a game changer in this sector”, said the Secretary.

She added on to mention the digital partnership to reach the Indian villages and bring them in the networking zones.

Also present at the launch, Foreign Secretary S Jaishankar, spoke on the issues of counter-terrorism, maritime security and energy and stated the need of Mutual Corporation in such areas

He said that this corporation was reaffirmed during the Prime Minister’s US visit in June, which will work as a new lease of relationship between both the countries.