Secretary of Commerce Gary Locke gave the keynote speech today at an event sponsored by the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) in New Delhi, one of the events on a trade and business mission he is leading through India this week. Twenty-four U.S. businesses are represented on the trip, including several manufacturers.

The Commerce Department is blogging the trip. Key excerpt from the secretary’s speech:

Between 2004 and 2008, trade doubled between India and the United States. 

And ours is increasingly a partnership of equals. . .

. . . With major U.S. multinationals like Cisco, GE and IBM locating major research and development facilities here, and depending on Indian scientists and engineers to do growing amounts of higher value-added work.

I think the growing respect that U.S. businesses have for India can be summed up by the words of a Cisco executive who said:

We came to India for the costs, we stayed for the quality and we’re now investing for innovation.

Key caveat:

Even though India has made tremendous strides to open up its economy, there is much work left to be done. (continue reading…)

From the Department of Commerce, “High-Technology Trade Mission To India with Secretary Locke and 24 U.S. Companies Kicks Off“:

Today, Secretary Locke kicked off a high-technology trade mission today in New Delhi to promote exports of leading U.S. technologies and services related to civil nuclear energy, civil aviation, defense and homeland security, and information and communications technology. The mission will continue through February 11, and also make stops in Bangalore and Mumbai. 

His first stop was at a neighborhood grocery store in New Delhi that is using technology developed by a U.S. company to market its products, manage its customers and organize its business operations.  Intuit, based in Mountain View, Calif., created “GoConnect,” a new innovative mobile and web-based marketing service that is helping Indian micro and small businesses grow and improve the way they communicate with their customers.

Export controls will perforce be a major focus of the mission. Also, Secretary Locke will speak to the Confederation of Indian Industry on Monday in New Delhi.  

 The Secretary and others — including participating companies — will be highlighting the trip on Commerce.gov’s blog (commerce.gov/blog) and Twitter feeds (@SecLocke and @CommerceGov).