Members of Boise’s economic development community met with the Consul General of India, Venkatesan Ashok, at the SBDC Accelerator in Boise on Wednesday, February 1. Based in the Silicon Valley of San Francisco, the Consul General was on his first visit to Idaho’s Treasure Valley. He was accompanied by Karen Parnell of the Idaho State Department of Commerce. The stop in Boise was part of a four-day trip designed to introduce the Ambassador to Idaho. The Indian Consulate in San Francisco serves the States of Alaska, California, Hawaii, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, Oregon, Utah, Washington, Wyoming, and Territory of Guam.
The Consul General discussed India’s focus on and need for infrastructure development in India’s 700,000 villages spread across 29 states. Industries of interest include renewable energy, water and waste management, farm technologies, agriculture and agro-processing, biotechnology, and pharmaceuticals.
The Indian economy has been growing at an average rate of about nine percent over the last three years. The Indian government gives a high priority to the development of infrastructure in highways, ports, railways, airports, power, and telecom. In 2015, India had a positive goods trade balance of $23 billion with the United States. Main exports to India from the US include agricultural products, aircraft, and machinery. Main imports to the U.S. from India include precious metals and stones, textiles and pharmaceuticals.
In 2015, exports from Idaho to India ranked 18th with a value of $28 million. Imports to Idaho from India ranked 21st with a value of $14 million. A large portion of Idaho’s exports to India are semiconductors and industrial products.