The measures undertaken by the Indian government on reforms has sent a "very powerful message" to the world of western investors, American Tower Corporation Executive Vice President Edmund DiSanto has said, stressing that the moves have cast India in a "very favorable light" when it comes to bringing in funding.
DiSanto, who is also the Chief Administrative Officer, General Counsel and Secretary of the global provider of wireless communications infrastructure, met Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman here on Monday. Sitharaman arrived in the US for a week-long trip to attend the annual meet of the World Bank and IMF in Washington as well as the G20 Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors (FMCBG) meeting. During the official visit to the US, Sitharaman is expected to meet US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen.
After arriving in New York, Sitharaman traveled to Boston where she will meet investors during a roundtable hosted by FICCI and US-India Strategic Partnership Forum (USISPF) and executives of global corporations and also address students at Harvard University.
"I see that the moves that the government of India has made recently have sent a very powerful message to the world of western investors, indicating a new receptivity and a new system that I think does encourage the opportunity"
With India attracting FDI inflows of USD 81.72 billion dollars during the financial year 2020-21, DiSanto said, "I do think that the policies have been pretty successful and we welcome the kind of reforms that they're considering to make it even better to encourage investment." Following his meeting with Sitharaman, DiSanto said that the ATC subsidiary in India currently has about 76,000 towers right now "throughout our cellular network" and "we think we're going to go to 4000 more.
PerkinElmer President and Chief Executive Officer Prahlad Singh said after his meeting with Sitharaman, that the finance minister elucidated the intent of the country to be more inclusive in development and growth. Singh added that amid the COVID-19 pandemic, products that have been developed in the company's facilities in Goa are being used and exported outside the country for use for COVID-19 testing.
"So that's really a very good example of how we can use and leverage the inclusive growth that the Finance Minister pointed out and what the country has been doing for using the capabilities and skillsets from India for our development as a company but also from the country's perspective."