Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman addresses the Indian diaspora in the San Francisco Bay.

Mrs. Nirmala Sitharaman, Indian Finance & Corporate affairs minister was in the US to attend IMF-WB Spring Meetings 2022. She addressed the Indian-American community in the San Francisco Bay Area. The event was organized by the Consulate General of India, San Francisco on April 23, at the University of Silicon Andhra, Milpitas. The event was attended by constituted entrepreneurs, venture capitalists, community leaders, elected officials of Indian origin, media, and various Indian organization members, the event was also attended by the Indian Ambassador to US Taranjit Singh Sandhu.

Consul General of India San Francisco Dr. TV Nagendra Prasad welcomed Minister Sitharaman, her delegation, and ambassador Sandhu to the west coast. He talked about the massive Indian population residing in the USA, in the San Francisco Region of California in particular, which has been contributing to the business, society, and economy. He mentioned Indo Americans constitute 4% of the Bay area population and have been successful in all walks of life.

Taranjit Singh in his address lauded the efforts taken by the diaspora during the COVID second wave to India. He also said the SF Bay area diaspora has played an important role right from the Gadar movement to the present-day technology talent. “As democracies with shared values, open exchange of knowledge, information, and ideas is integral to India-US relations. Strengthening technology, and innovation partnership are also central to strengthening the strategic pillar of our relationship,” he said. 

Mrs. Sitharaman mentioned India’s sharp economic recovery post-COVID-19 and budget initiatives will help in sustaining growth momentum in the years to come, she said. She noted that multilateralism has become more critical as the world is undergoing a phase of exceptional uncertainty. She added that India has the largest startup ecosystem with Fintech being the most preferred sector. She said that 1 in 4 startups belong to the Fintech sector and are increasingly becoming unicorns or startups that have a valuation of more than $1 billion.

In her trip FM also met CEOs of large American firms like FedEx and Mastercard and discussed various opportunities for investment in India as the country is poised to be the fastest-growing large economy in the world.