On Wednesday, July 25, State Treasurer Tim Cahill joined in a panel
discussion sponsored by the South Asian Bar Association.  The panel was
focused on how to encourage and expand Indian business investment in
Massachusetts.  The event was held at the office of Holland and Knight LLP in Boston, MA.

Treasurer Cahill opened the panel discussion by recounting his recent trip to India. The treasurer was very bullish on India. “There is no question that the sheer size of the Indian market and its continued growth creates economic opportunities unlike any other country in the world except China” said Cahill. One of the goals for Cahill’s trip to India was to identify investment opportunities for the Massachusetts state pension fund. “While we are not ready to make any direct investment in India we are planning to invest in a Pan Asian fund”.  He made several suggestions  on  what the state needs to do  to  invite investment. " There  are many great ideas including  having a direct flight to Boston which would  boost  Indian investment in Massachussets" said Cahill.

Patrick Bench who is the Director , Business Development Developing Markets for the Massachusetts Office of International Trade & Investment talked about the great interest shown by many Indian companies in investment in Massachusetts.  He emphasized the fact that both Mass and India have a great deal of interest in knowledge based industries and felt there were great opportunities for collaboration. He urged people to contact his office for help with doing business in India. He felt a need to create networks and groups. Many cities have country focused groups that have great value for entrepreneurs.

Prof Gopinath , Associate Professor – Undergraduate International Business Programs – Suffolk University , spoke about the University’s Global MBA programs  which is getting very popular.  Suffolk University’s Global MBA is designed specifically for creating global leaders. It is a distinctive, intensive specialized MBA degree in international management. The program combines the strength of the MBA core curriculum with rigorous, globally-focused upper-level courses. Students select either an international finance or international marketing concentration. Both full- and part-time Global MBA students participate in a one-week travel seminar where they experience global business first-hand through corporate visits and meetings with global executives.  He also gave some insights into doing business with India.

William Guenther, President of Mass Insight Corp said it was critical to have increased immigration to address the problem of slow population growth in Massachusetts.  He felt that Massachusetts is  in a unique position to form business- university- government which could lead to concerted efforts in seeking investment into Massachusetts. Since Mass has some of the finest schools in the nations he emphasized the need to leverage the skills of the alumni of these Universities who hold powerful positions around the world.

Ameek Ponda Partner, Sullivan & Worcester gave some wonderful insights into Cross Border Transactions. “There are big cultural differences between India and the US.  India is a very young youthful business culture. Pace of business is different as are the different legal cultures. Indians are often very afraid that they will get sued for frivolous reasons” said Ponda.   He felt understanding these differences is key to success.

All panelists felt strongly that India’s democracy was its asset. While changes were happening at a slow pace as compared to China, the fact that they had to be vetted through the democratic process assured greater permanence and stability to the changes.  “Come to India you see the cracks. In China you do not see the cracks though they exist” said Cahill who felt strongly that democracy was India’s greatest asset.

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