Mr. Locke is not the only American official trying to solicit business in India. Individual American states have also sent representatives to coincide with Mr. Locke’s visit. As state governments weigh painful budget cuts and grapple with lingering unemployment, some officials say that increasing exports to India and encouraging investment from its expanding companies is crucial.
“We’re not doing it to get ahead, we’re doing it to not be left behind,” said North Carolina’s secretary of commerce, J. Keith Crisco, who was in New Delhi this week with dozens of executives from his state.
This is the first trade delegation North Carolina has sent to India, Mr. Crisco said, though the state sent people to China and Brazil last year.
“Yes, we are catching up in India,” he said, adding that he expected some announcements of deals related to the trip in coming weeks.
New York State has gone even further. It set up an office in New Delhi last year and is organizing a series of investment conferences in New Delhi, Mumbai and Bangalore this spring, aimed at Indian companies who want to expand to the United States or work as partners with a New York company.
The office is led by Kaviraj Singh, a Delhi lawyer who has lived and worked in New York. He said he planned to use the office to tie New York businesses “into a network that will make you feel as though you’ve always been here.”
Heather Timmons reported from New Delhi and Vikas Bajaj from Bangalore, India.
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