In Hyderabad
Rep. Joseph Crowley defends India over business outsourcing issue

From left, Congressman Joseph Crowley (D-NY), co-chair of the Congressional Caucus on India and Indian Americans; N. Kumar, former president of the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII), and Senator John Cornyn (R-TX) at a plenary session of the CII Partnership Summit titled ‘India and the U.S.: At a New Cross Roads,’ in Hyderabad (Photo: Courtesy, CII)

HYDERABAD: The United States is losing more jobs to China in manufacturing than to India in outsourcing but the latter is being made a scapegoat, U.S. Congressman Joseph Crowley (D-NY), co-chair of the Congressional Caucus on India and Indian Americans, said here on Jan. 8.

Addressing the 10th Partnership Summit of the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) here here on Jan. 7-9, Rep. Crowley said the issue of outsourcing to India was being raised to deflect what had happened in the manufacturing sector.

Rep. Crowley, who was in India on a weeklong visit at the head of an 11-member Congressional delegation, said the trade deficit between India and his country was between $5 billion and $12 billion, while the same between China and the U.S. was $100 billion to $130 billion. The visiting delegation also earlier visited New Delhi and were also scheduled to travel to Agra and Mumbai.

Discussions at the CII summit, which was attended by Indian and business and political leaders from India and abroad, brought to the fore widespread concerns in the U.S. and other parts of the developed world about the burgeoning outsourcing sector.

THE DELEGATES

- Sen. Joh- Corny- (D-TX) - Rep. Joseph Crowley (D-NY) - Rep. Steny Hoyer (D-MD) - Rep. Steve Israel (D-NY) - Rep. Barbara Lee (D-CA) - Rep. Denise Majette (D-GA) - Rep. Jim Marshall (D-GA) - Rep. Caroly- McCarthy (D-NY) - Rep. Gregory Meeks (D-NY) - Rep. Linda Sanchez (D-CA) - Rep. Anthony Weiner (D-NY)

Expressing his views while speaking on the theme, ‘India and U.S.: At a New Crossroads,” Rep. Crowley said: “India is being used as a scapegoat.” While the U.S. had lost three million jobs during the last three years, outsourcing had added to the competitive edge of the American companies. “U.S. companies became more efficient and competitive in the global environment.” He, however, said the concern about jobs being lost due to outsourcing needed to be recognized by governments and businesses.

Rep. Crowley suggested that India could help find ways to help educate American businesses. “There has to be give and take,” he said, calling for increased Indian investment in the U.S.

Expressing confidence that relations between India and the U.S. would continue to flourish, Crowley underlined the need to focus on issues on which there was agreement between the two, aside from issues on which there were disagreements. Another member of the U.S. delegation, Republican Senator John Cornyn from Texas, also referred to concerns in the U.S. about outsourcing. “In an election year, it is more likely to be rapped up,” he said. Cornyn, however, said dislocation of jobs came with globalization. “Free trade should be our goal and we have a long way to go. Whatever may be the temporary hardships we should join to seek the goal. We should avoid seeking short-term gains in the interests of long-term benefits,” he said.

Other members of the U.S. delegation who participated in the CII Partnership Summit included Reps. Barbara Lee (D-CA), Anthony Weiner (D-NY) and Rep. Linda Sanchez (D-CA).

A day earlier, on Jan. 7, in his keynote address at the inaugural session of the event, K.C. Pant, deputy chairman of India’s Planning Commission, said the country could become the world’s third largest economy by 2020.

Pant said the 10th Five Year Plan (2002-07) aimed to make India the fastest growing economy in the world by the end of this period. “We believe that the country has the potential to record an average growth rate of 8 percent per annum during these 5 years, rising above 9 percent in the terminal year. “We intend to become the world’s third largest economy well before (U.S. investment bank) Goldman Sachs’ estimate (of 2040), preferably by 2020,” he said. A recent study by Goldman Sachs on the growth prospects of four leading developing and transition economies --- Brazil, Russia, India and China --- estimates that India will be the third largest economy in the world by 2040, after China and the U.S. Union Commerce and Industry Minister Arun Jaitley on Jan. 9 urged developed countries to eliminate or lower their subsidies in agriculture for multilateral trade negotiations to be successful. Jaitley also hoped that the process of multilateral trade agreement would move quickly and the areas of disagreement, especially on agriculture, would be resolved this year. He said the challenge before the country was in becoming a manufacturing hub. Infrastructure was next on the list of priority, he added.