Ex-Im Bank Chairman Concludes Successful Mission to India
Hyderabad, India - Fred P. Hochberg, the chairman and president of the Export-Import Bank of the United States (Ex-Im Bank), led a business-development mission in southern India this week, where he met with local officials and identified new business opportunities for U.S. and Indian companies. Hochberg traveled to Chennai, Bangalore, and Hyderabad and met with representatives from the automotive, healthcare, and infrastructure sectors.
As the world's two largest democracies, the United States and India have a strong and unique partnership, Hochberg said. India is making significant infrastructure investments over the next five years. This will allow us to build on our partnership, and it will provide us with additional opportunities to advance the economy and create jobs in both of our countries.
While in India, Hochberg met with leading business organizations, including members from the Indo-American Chamber of Commerce, the Confederation of Indian Industry, and Indus Entrepreneurs.
Ex-Im was one of the largest financers of renewable energy projects in India in Fiscal Year 2011 (FY'11), authorizing more than $176 million in financing for seven solar transactions in the country. There has been an increased demand for solar power in India due in part to the country's commitment to its National Solar Initiative.
In FY'11, the Bank also authorized $2.9 billion in financing for Indian companies that purchased U.S. goods and services, a more than a 30 percent increase since FY'09. India is expected to soon surpass Mexico as the largest market exposure in Ex-Im's portfolio. Ex-Im financed more than 17 percent of all U.S. goods to India in 2011.
India is one of nine key markets (others are Mexico, Brazil, Colombia, Turkey, South Africa, Nigeria, Indonesia and Vietnam) where Ex-Im Bank is focusing its business-development efforts because of the country's infrastructure and development needs.
About Ex-Im Bank:
Ex-Im Bank is an independent federal agency that helps create and maintain U.S. jobs by filling gaps in private export financing at no cost to American taxpayers. In the past six years, Ex-Im Bank has earned for U.S. taxpayers $3.7 billion above the cost of operations. The Bank provides a variety of financing mechanisms, including working capital guarantees, export-credit insurance and financing to help foreign buyers purchase U.S. goods and services.
Ex-Im Bank approved $32.7 billion in total authorizations in FY 2011 — an all-time Ex-Im record. This total includes more than $6 billion directly supporting small-business export sales — also an Ex-Im record. Ex-Im Bank's total authorizations are supporting an estimated $41 billion in U.S. export sales and approximately 290,000 American jobs in communities across the country. For more information, visit www.exim.gov.