Inviting American businesses to invest in India, Science and Technology Minister Kapil Sibal has said the country now has the right incentives and the appropriate intellectual laws in place for technology to come.
"We want Americans to invest in a much bigger way than you have in the past. All the infrastructure developments: roads, ports, airports don't have the kind of American participation we would like," Sibal, who is heading a five-city road show in the US, told a business symposium at Silicon Valley.
Recent legislation gives businesses a good protection over intellectual property and patents as in the United States, the Minister said on Tuesday.
The Indian delegation painted a upbeat picture of India's biotech industry, saying it is projected to reach $5 billion in annual sales by 2009, constituting 10 per cent of the global industry.
The Indian government has subsidised several biotech incubator parks and will continue to roll out a handful more over the next few years.
American drugmakers and pharmaceutical companies, including those in Silicon Valley, are looking to India to cut costs by conducting clinical trials and testing there, the Mercury News reported on Tuesday.
"I don't think India's industry will necessarily compete with Silicon Valley companies," said Sean Randolph, president and chief executive of Bay Area Economic Forum, who moderated a panel discussion with the Indian delegates.
"When firms do the trials in India, it can help them stretch their investment, bring the drugs faster to market and perhaps lower the cost of drugs in the long run."
While delegates talked about the Indian government's effort to bolster the manufacturing industry, questions arose about how India will compete with the manufacturing prowess of China.
The delegates tried to sell India as a destination for low-volume, high-value products. Currently, China's strength is in making mass-produced, low-priced products, such as garments and textiles.
"When it comes to skilled, value-add products, India is way ahead of China," Sibal told the audience. "When it comes to underwear, yes, we're a little behind."
Attendees, as well as panelists, acknowledged the largest impediment to doing business in India is its poor infrastructure. Other attendees expressed concern about intellectual-property protections.
The road show, which kicked off in Seattle last week, will take the group next to Chicago, New York and Washington, DC.