Washington: Start-ups, innovation and manufacturing are the thrust areas of this visit, as External Affairs spokesperson, Vikas Swarup, aptly described the theme of Prime Minister's US Visit in nutshell.
PM Narendra Modi will host a dinner in New York on September 24 that will witness participation of around 50 CEOs of Fortune 500 companies as he looks to drum up greater investment and intensify engagement.
PM Modi will also visit Silicon Valley on September 26 and 27, The first Indian leader to visit California in more than three decades, to meet CEOs of digital companies in his bid to push digital economy, and renewable energy in India.
Modi is the first Indian prime minister to visit the Bay Area since Morarji Desai picked up an award at University of California, Berkeley in 1978 and Indira Gandhi visit.
Top 6 CEOs who could be a game changer for India
1) Mark Zuckerberg
Prime Minister will visit the Facebook headquarters at California to meet Facebook CEO and attend a townhall Q& A session on September 27. Zuckerberg has also invited questions from his followers that they would like to be ask in the upcoming meeting with the Prime Minister.
2) Tim Cook
The prime minister will meet Apple CEO to showcase initiatives such as 'Make in India' and 'Digital India' and persuade the iPhone maker to invest in manufacturing and research & development (R&D) in India. The world's largest contract manufacturer Foxconn, which makes the iPhone and other Apple devices, has already a $5-billion plan to set up factories in India.
PM Modi is also slated to meet the Indian origin Google CEO to discuss how the internet search giant could contribute to the Digital Indian campaign.
At Googleplex, PM Modi will also witness the start of a 15-hour hackathon, with some 150 Indian programmers looking to produce software and applications relevant to India for Digital India and Skill India missions.
4) Satya Nadella:
PM Modi will also meet Microsoft's CEO to apprise him about the steps his government has taken to remove the bottlenecks in investment in India . India born Nadella last year pledged support to Prime Minister Narendra Modi's Digital India initiative. They had discussed modernisation and security of the government's digital infrastructure during Nadella's India Visit.
5) Elon Musk:
Prime Minister Narendra Modi will visit the campuses of electric car manufacturer Tesla. Considering Modi's ambition to lead India to cut carbon footprints, the meeting with company's CEO Elon Musk could be crucial. According to reports, Indian Prime Minister is expected to ask for investment in Tesla battery storage products in India, which the Silicon Valley company released earlier in April.
6) Shantanu Narayen:
Primr Minister will also meet Adobe Systems President & CEO Shantanu Narayen with an aim to push the Indian government's initiatives such as “Make in India” and “Digital India” campaigns.
