India and the U.S. to sign MoU on semiconductors, says U.S. Commerce Secretary

Air India-Boeing deal will create “tremendous number of jobs” in the US: Raimondo.

Air India’s decision to purchase 220 Boeing aircraft will create “tremendous number of jobs” in the United States, said Commerce Secretary Gina M. Raimondo on Thursday. In remarks to the media here, a day before restarting India-U.S. Commercial Dialogue, the visiting official said, that India and the U.S. will sign an MoU on semiconductors that will support India’s aspiration to play a leading role in the “electronic supply chain”. Ms. Raimondo is accompanied by ten American CEOs who will be joined by their Indian counterparts on Friday to help draft industry-specific recommendations that will help both sides.  

“Just a few weeks ago, Boeing and Air India announced an order for 220 aircraft which is a historic deal that reflects the strength of our economic relationship and will support a tremendous number of jobs in the United States,” said Ms. Raimondo who met with External Affairs Minister Dr. Jaishankar on Thursday. Ms. Raimondo’s visit coincided with the Holi celebrations here and she thanked Defence Minister Rajnath Singh who hosted her during the Holi festivities at his residence on Wednesday.  

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Mr. Jaishankar said his conversation with Ms. Raimondo included “resilient and reliable supply chains and trust and transparency in the digital domain”. Ms. Raimondo will join Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal to hold the India-U.S. Commercial Dialogue on Friday which will be accompanied by the U.S.-India CEOS Forum. “I am thrilled to say that ten U.S. CEOs of leading U.S. companies travelled with me for the Forum and are here in person and their role working together with their Indian CEO counterparts is to develop for us recommendations for how the two governments can expand commercial ties and create more economic opportunities in both of our countries,” said the U.S. Commerce Secretary. 

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Out of several items on the agenda, the Ms. Raimondo highlighted the importance of semiconductors in bilateral trade talks confirming that the issue figured in talks “all day today” and that U.S. expects India to have its role in the electronic supply chain saying, “Both United States and India are implementing semiconductor incentive programmes and we discussed how we could coordinate those investments which is in both of our interests and ensure the best possible outcomes for both of our countries. We would like to see India achieve its aspirations to play a larger role in the electronic supply chain and to that end the Memorandum of Understanding that I am signing on this trip around semiconductors is designed to help achieve that goal.” 

Ms. Raimondo appreciated India joining the “supply chain pillar, infrastructure pillar and the tax and anti-corruption pillar” of the Indo Pacific Economic Framework (IPEF) saying the U.S. is focused on getting India on board the “trade pillar. These moves are aimed at stabilising the global supply chains that were disturbed during the COVID-19 pandemic and subsequently by the Ukraine crisis. She mentioned that India-U.S. discussion on semiconductors will help create transparency in the “incentives programme” that both sides are starting. Ms. Raimondo did not confirm if the bilateral discussion on semiconductors is aimed at turning India into a “balancer” of China in the semiconductor space arguing that the India-U.S. discussion on the matter is aimed at ensuring a “more resilient and more diversified semiconductor supply chain”.