US recognises India's enormous intellectual capital: Policy expert Guruprasad Sowle

America recognises India's enormous intellectual capital, and integrating India with the manufacturing ecosystem in core sectors like semiconductor will be key, according to policy thinktank founder Guruprasad Sowle.

He said that the US is no longer looking at India only as a destination for services.

Sowle, who heads Indus International Research Foundation (IIRF), met Prime Minister Narendra Modi during his state visit to the US in June.

"Even if it means a transfer of technology from the US to India, gradually that will happen because there are certain technologies that America was not really forthcoming in terms of sharing but after this visit by the Prime Minister, there is a considerable shift towards manufacturing in India," Sowle said.

He noted that there was a paradigm shift where the US is no longer seeing India only as a destination for services.

"They are seeing India to step up in core sectors, especially aerospace and defence, automotive, healthcare, artificial intelligence in healthcare," he said, listing the sectors where India can see a "huge opportunity".

With consumer electronics, mobile phones, automobiles, computers and IoT poised to fuel global demand, India is wooing semiconductor and display manufacturers with a $10 billion incentive scheme, making a determined push to position itself as a global powerhouse for electronics production.

He added that there is a huge opportunity for Indian startups in the United States but not many startups know they don't need revenue to be listed on NASDAQ.

"This is something I covered with the Prime Minister when I got the opportunity to meet him. Personally, I did mention to him that there are more than 200 Chinese companies listed on our stock exchanges with hardly 10 or 11 Indian companies listed.

"You don't have to be Infosys or HCL or Wipro to get listed, you can be any technology company," he said.

Many investment bankers he speaks to ask why Indian companies are not getting listed in the US, he said.

"We should have more Indian companies coming and they're welcoming it because the climate is so conducive now for Indian entrepreneurship and also, India is such a big brand in the US now," he said.

This is the time to leverage, pivot and gear shift everything, Sowle added.

Speaking on the Data Protection Act, 2023, Sowle said data protection has been a challenge with the surge in growth after the internet opened in the year 2000. One can't have a digital India without data protection laws, "just like no investment without managing risk," he added.

The data protection Act received assent from the President on Saturday, following its passage in Parliament.

The Act introduces several compliance requirements for the collection and processing of personal data, has provisions to curb misuse of individuals' data by online platforms, and entails up to Rs 250 crore penalty for any data breach.