Indian CEOS laud relaxed rules in US
Close to a dozen chiefs of India Inc who met US President Donald Trump lauded him for relaxing regulations that improved the business environment. The president at the same time talked about his achievements during his term and pitched for his re-election.
Mukesh Ambani, chairman and managing director of Reliance Industries, said they were looking to invest close to $7 billion in the US. “We are the only Indian company that does not use Chinese components,” said Ambani. To which Trump quipped, “Huawei, you mean?”
In May 2019, Trump ordered the blacklisting of Huawei, accusing it of aiding the Chinese government in espionage. The US government also banned the company from accessing US supply chains, which it needs to make its products.
Ambani also said Trump’s leadership inspired tax relief in India.
“India followed the US model. For the first time ever, there was cut in income tax,” he said.
Among the dozen industry leaders who attended the meeting were
Aditya Birla Group’s Kumar
Mangalam Birla, Tata Sons
Chairman N Chandrasekaran, Oyo
Hotels Founder Ritesh Agarwal,
Bharat Forge’s Managing Director
Baba Kalyani, Larsen & Toubro
Chairman A M Naik, and Biocon
Chairman & Managing Director
Kiran Mazumdar-shaw.
Commenting on the health care sector, Trump said it was an important agenda of the Republican party. “We have got rid of individual mandate, which was a disaster in
Obamacare. We ended it. We decided to run it well,” said Trump.
Both Ambani and Birla said acquisitions and business deals had become easier with faster clearances. To this Trump said: “That will only happen as long as I am there. If someone else comes, it all comes to a halt. We did some of the biggest tax cuts in history, regulations were improved. That has brought you people to the US.” He said markets have been up by 70-80-90 per cent during his term. “Our markets will jump thousands and thousands (of ) points if I win,” said Trump.
Elaborating on the tax cuts, Trump said the US economy was improving as consumers had a lot in hand to spend. “One of the reasons we’re doing well and other countries are not doing (so) (is) because our consumers are rich now. It is because of what we’ve done with a lot of things for creating jobs, but also tax cuts,” he added. Commenting on the steel sector, represented by Tata Group, Trump said if he was not elected, the aluminium and steel business in the US would have died. “We got that straightened out. So, the aluminium and steel businesses made a big comeback.” Trump said there were plans to relax regulations further. “We’re going to cut a lot more regulations. But regulations for safety and environment will remain. But no president has ever cut close to what we’ve done,” said Trump.
The US president also talked about his country’s relations with China and said differences over tariff were over and the money that came from the latter was given to the farmers.
“We just signed a deal with China. And they’re going to be spending $250 billion a year now in our country. Close to $40-50 billion will go to the farmers for the purchase of farm products,” said Trump.
Among the dozen industry leaders who attended the meeting were Aditya Birla Group’s Kumar Mangalam Birla, Tata Sons Chairman N Chandrasekaran, Oyo Hotels Founder Ritesh Agarwal, Bharat Forge’s Managing Director Baba Kalyani, Larsen & Toubro Chairman A M Naik, and Biocon Chairman & Managing Director Kiran Mazumdar-shaw