Recently released bilateral goods trade data for 2019 indicates that the US has replaced China as India’s top goods trading partner, CII survey said.

Indian companies in the US have invested $22.6 billion and created 124,730 jobs spanning across all 50 states as well as District of Columbia and Puerto Rico, according to the sixth edition of the CII survey – Indian Roots, American Soil — done every two years. The top 10 states receiving maximum investment from Indian companies were Texas ($9.53 billion), New Jersey ($2.43 billion), New York ($1.79 billion), Florida ($915 million), Massachusetts ($873 million), California ($858 million), Missouri ($595 million), Indiana ($566 million), Pennsylvania ($540 million), and Kentucky ($530 million). According to the survey, which received responses from 155 companies, the top ten states where Indian firms have created maximum jobs included Texas (17,578), California (8,271), New Jersey (8,057), New York (6,175), Florida (5,454), Georgia (4,578), North Carolina (4,565), Washington (4,167), Illinois (3,951), and Michigan (3,118).

The two years encompassed in the survey saw the bilateral partnership of the two countries reaching a new high with Prime Minister Modi visiting the US in September 2019 followed by President Trump’s visit to India in February 2020. The trade between India-US peaked at $142.6 billion in 2018, with a compound annual growth rate of 11.8 per cent, the survey said. In 2018 the bilateral goods trade was worth $87.9 billion while in services, the amount stood at around $54.8 billion. “Recently released bilateral goods trade data for 2019 indicates that the US has replaced China as India’s top goods trading partner,” the survey noted. On the other hand, India has also reduced its trade deficit to $23.2 billion and has exited the list of top ten countries having the largest trade deficits with the US. Moreover, the cumulative stock of US FDI in India was $46 billion in 2018, according to the survey. This is up from close to $18 billion FDI from just 100 Indian companies in the US, as per the fifth edition of the CII survey.

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Here are other findings from the survey:

• 47 per cent Indian companies reported conducting research and development (R&D) in the US and spent over $890 million in aggregate on funding US innovation activities.
• Nearly $175 million were invested by Indian firms in corporate social responsibility initiatives at both the local and national levels throughout the US.
• 83 per cent companies surveyed planned to hire additional employees in the next five years while 77 per cent were planning future investments in the US and 44 per cent were also looking at funding future R&D initiatives.
• 27.10 per cent of surveyed firms were in the information technology and telecommunications followed by 24.52 per cent were in life sciences, pharmaceuticals, and healthcare, 19.35 per cent were in manufacturing, 10.32 per cent were in automotive, 6.45 per cent were in energy etc.