Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal on Thursday called upon US-based companies to look at India as a manufacturing base.

The minister made the appeal while delivering the inaugural virtual address at the annual conference of USIBC State of US-India Business. He said that trade between India and the US has grown exponentially, but there is a lot more to be desired.

Goyal said that the US and India complement each other. He said that the US offers technology, finance & innovation, whereas India has a large market that needs to be served.

The minister, however, said that at the same time, there is a need to protect people in agriculture and protect the citizens from low quality products.

Emphasizing at a fair dealing in our engagement, he said that India provides an under-served aspirational market. The minister said that the US will have to be very sensitive to price points in India, which matter to emerging economies with millions of people just coming out of poverty.

Inviting businesses in the US to look at India as a manufacturing base, he said that from here, they can serve a large Indian market and at the same time, also serve global markets through cost-competitive products. He said that their reforms in defence, mining, labour and agriculture sector will open up new opportunities for the American companies.

The minister also mentioned how the government has increased the FDI limit in insurance from 49 per cent to 74 per cent in the Budget 2021-22.

Goyal said that the government is keen to expand on the digital space with the US. He added that they would be conscious of their responsibility to the people of India for data privacy. “There are a lot of concerns with the big tech companies, and India would like to protect its policy space,” he said.

The Minister said that he looks forward to re-kindle bilateral institutional mechanism for trade, the Trade Policy Forum, and commercial dialogue to deepen this relationship through continuous engagements.

“As democracies wanting to give a better future to our people, we have a lot of synergy in our thinking. I am delighted to hear that the new administration has re-joined the Paris Agreement”, he added.