Attended a session with Hon’ Ronen Sen, Ambassador of India to the US. He has had an illustrious career in Indian Foreign Service with Ambassadorships to UK, Germany, Russia, Mexico and several other UN and diplomatic roles. Washington is actively seeking India as a trade partner with trade missions to India last year and Governor’s mission this year. Ambassador Sen has been active in promoting bilateral trade and was instrumental in securing Boeing’s multibillion dollar contract with AirIndia and is looking to get airlines fly direct to India given the amount of traffic that has increased in the recent years. He talked about significant challenges and opportunities for India and India-US trade relationship. The biggest area of challenge/opportunities are Energy, Health care and medical equipments, clean drinking water, airport and port infrastructure (there is not a single facility that meets Intl standards, which is kind of pathetic), Telecom, and of course IT.

He took several challenging questions from profitability of s/w companies in India to dealing with bureaucracy and was quick on his feet. The quote that i loved the most “Whatever you have heard about India is probably true” – from the good, the bad, the ugly to supernatural. India is a land of contradictions – you either love it or can go crazy trying to figure it out. I have been meaning to post my observations from my Dec trip to various parts of India but haven’t been able to .. will do so soon. Bottom-line is – it growing incredibly fast and opportunities abound but it is not for the faint-hearted. Stay tuned.