Business Wire India
During President Trump’s maiden India visit, the US-India Strategic Partnership Forum (USISPF) launched the US-India Tax Forum, an initiative designed for industry and government to engage on global and local tax policy issues. The USISPF Tax Forum brought together over 50 tax experts from Fortune 500 companies together with senior officials from Ministry of Finance, Central Board Direct Tax (CBDT), GST Council and Customs Board Indirect Tax & Customs (CBIC). The Forum will meet on a regular basis with the government to share feedback on transparency and efficiency in tax policy. It will also work with the government to ensure tax policy harmonization between multilateral and unilateral tax treaties.

On Feb 24^th, USISPF convened a round table with Union Minister of Petroleum and Natural Gas, Dharmendra Pradhan, and U.S. Secretary of Energy Dan Brouillette along with senior industry executives to mark President Donald J. Trump’s maiden visit to India.

Both sides reviewed the progress of the US-India Strategic Energy Partnership and emphasized the centrality of industry in expanding energy access and security between our economies. Energy-related trade between the countries touched $8 billion in 2019 and is expected to increase by 20 percent in 2020.

Prior to the industry discussion, the Minister and the Secretary presided over the signing of a Letter of Cooperation between ExxonMobil India LNG Limited (Chart Energy & Chemicals, Inc) and Indian Oil Corporation Limited to establish a system of transportation infrastructure to expand gas access in India.

Today, USISPF together with Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI) and Observer Research Foundation (ORF) also convened the US-India Forum: Partners for Growth — an event gathering of eminent current and former government of India and U.S. government officials, and private sector leaders to discuss the next steps in growing US-India trade and investment relations, defense ties, Indo-Pacific strategy, and the enormous technology transitions and trends in the coming decade.

Applauding American companies’ efforts in India and encouraging them to work closely with India, Union Minister Shri Piyush Goyal said, “It is Prime Minister Modi's sincerity in his outreach to world leaders that helps him develop a strong relationship with them and makes him one of the most effective foreign policy practitioners in the world.”

“Investments coming into India will be a natural consequence of a secure neighbourhood coupled with the aspirational demands of a billion-plus people of India. On part of the Government, we are working actively to make even more regulatory adjustments to make investing in India an attractive proposition,” Goyal added.

There is a strong convergence of security and geopolitical interests between the U.S. and India across the Indo-Pacific region. From a trade perspective the two governments have shown tremendous respect for each others’ interests and today the U.S. is India’s largest trading partner, said Dr. Mukesh Aghi, CEO, USISPF.

Dr. Sangita Reddy, President, FICCI, said that “Indian healthcare system has a lot of potential models for the world as it is a closer linkage between the consumer & provider.”

“Ayushman Bharat is truly a transformative step. It is a scheme which overlays on the current infrastructure of the country where 80% of the healthcare is delivered by the private sector,” she added.
About the US-India Strategic Partnership Forum (USISPF)

The US-India Strategic Partnership Forum is committed to creating the most powerful strategic partnership between the U.S. and India. Promoting bilateral trade is an important part of our work, but our mission reaches far beyond this. It is about business and government coming together in new ways to create meaningful opportunities that have the power to change the lives of citizens.