Pravasi Divas, 2006
NRI
Iftekhar Shareef, US auto manufacturing & Illinois
official will attend Pravasi Divas from Jan 7 to 9,
2006
Three teams from Midwest US to attend Pravasi
Divas
Chicago, December 12, 2005
IANS
Three delegations from Midwest US, including one from
auto capital Detroit, will be attending India's annual
conclave to connect with its vast diaspora at Hyderabad
from Jan 7 to 9 next year.
The business delegations attending the Pravasi Bharatiya
Divas, as the conference is called, will be from the
office of Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich, the neighbouring
state of Iowa and one led by the president of the
Detroit Chamber of Commerce.
"Hopefully, these visits would lead to increasing
trade between India and Midwest US," said Consul
General Arun Kumar.
He was speaking at a meeting of Indian business and
community leaders organised in cooperation with the
Ministry of Overseas Indian Affairs and the Federation
of Indian Associations.
Among those who canvassed for greater non-resident
Indian (NRI) participation in the Pravasi Divas was
Iftekhar Shareef, originally from Hyderabad, and founder
president of Illinois' largest credit card processor.
"Many of us are either looking forward to retiring
in India, or spending more time in the future,"
Shareef said. He felt that NRIs should learn from
non-resident Chinese who are fully involved in China's
economic development.
Shareef, who has considerable real estate investments
in Hyderabad, is building a five-star hotel there
and has plans to construct a medical college and hospital.
He has even offered to personally host the NRIs visiting
Hyderabad for the convention.
Some of the participants urged that the convention's
agenda go beyond purely economic ones.
Sriram Sonty, president of SAPNA, a non-profit organisation
that promotes classical Indian dance and music, said:
"The Pravasi Divas should promote India-US cultural
relations and invite second generation Indian Americans
to participate."
Projecting increasing Indian collaboration with Detroit,
traditionally the US' auto manufacturing hub, Kumar
noted that Mahindra and Mahindra had recently opened
an office there.
A study by McKinsey, a management consulting firm
advising leading companies on issues of strategy,
organisation, technology and operations, has projected
that US outsourcing of car parts would grow from the
current $65 billion to $375 billion in 2015. India's
share of this is also expected to grow to $25 billion.
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