US commerce secretary urges more India reform

MUMBAI: US Commerce Secretary Gary Locke on Thursday called on India to create more jobs and upgrade its infrastructure as it embarks on a rapid growth path.

Locke, in India after US president Barack Obama's visit to the country in November, urged the software sector to push for more market reform.

"India needs more jobs, its transport and infrastructure have to be upgraded," Locke said, adding that US companies could help provide high-speed internet capacity and technology.

"We seek mutually beneficial win-win opportunities (with India)," Locke said at the end of a three-day information technology summit, organised by industry lobby group the National Association of Software and Services Companies (NASSCOM).

"If India continues its walk down the path of reform and continues to become more open to investments and innovations of foreign companies, it will stand a much better chance to meet the needs of its people and of helping to lead the global economy," Locke said.

Locke is in India along with delegations from several US companies seeking to promote their products and services in civil nuclear energy, aviation, information and communications technology, and defence.

Locke did not address controversial issues such as the outsourcing of American jobs to India and a growing protectionist sentiment in the United States.

NASSCOM president Som Mittal on Thursday urged the US government not to take "any short-term decisions" which would have long-term impact on the IT sector.

US and other foreign firms, drawn by India's vast, educated English-speaking workforce and lower labour costs than in the West, have farmed out a wide range of jobs, ranging from retail banking call centres to insurance claims processing to equity analysis.

India's top software outsourcing firms saw a recovery in demand in key markets, including the US, in the last quarter ending in December.

NASSCOM said software exports were expected to touch $59 billion this financial year ending March, after growing just five percent to $49 billion in 2009-10, when the sector was hit by the global financial downturn.