Obama may not take Bush bus to India

[OhioChick]

New Delhi January 20, 2009, 0:22 IST

Unlikely to be as friendly towards India as the previous administration.

“Change has come to America,” said US President-elect Barack Obama in his victory speech at Chicago on November 4 last year.

After his presidential inauguration on January 20, what will be the nature of the “change” for ties between the US and India? India’s Ambassador to the US Ronen Sen has sent an assessment report to the Ministry of External Affairs, noting that the incoming administration may not be as friendly as the previous administration.

The global financial crisis cast a cloud over the US election campaign in 2008. Promising change, first at home, was Obama’s main campaign plank. This included stopping the flight of “US jobs” abroad due to the outsourcing industry and protecting US businesses.

Here are some issues that will have a direct bearing on the Indo-US ties in the future:

Outsourcing: During his campaign, Obama’s prescription to combat job losses due to outsourcing was to withhold tax breaks to companies that ship jobs overseas. India’s software and services exports were nearly $40 billion during FY08, with the US as its largest market.

However, former US Secretary of State Madeline Albright, who was Obama’s representative at the G-20 summit held in November 2008, told Planning Commission Deputy Chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia that outsourcing would not be on Obama’s immediate agenda.

More: http://www.business-standard.com/india/news/obama-may-not-take-bush-bus-to-india/16/58/346616/

"Outsourcing" had better be on his immediate agenda. We need JOBS!