New Delhi, Aug 13 (KNN) United State (US) firms have an optimistic approach towards investment in India and are looking at India as an engine for growth post-pandemic era, said Dr T V Nagendra Prasad, Consul General, Consulate General of India, San Francisco, USA.

He said this during a session organised by the PHD Chamber of Commerce and Industry on 'India - USA Business Promotion, Challenges, and Opportunities Post COVID19'.

Nagendra Prasad apprised about the diverse relations shared by India-USA and mentioned that with strong convergence of interest across USA and India, both the nations enjoy the strongest bilateral relations.

''We have steadily grown our trade relations with each other and are working towards making India's vision to become a USD 5 Trillion economy in the near future. Sectors like innovation, entrepreneurship, energy, healthcare, start, service, and aviation have a growing scope that can be explored further,'' he added.

Giving an overview of the geography and business development of the USA, he talked about the massive Indian population residing in the USA, in particular San Francisco Region of California, that has been contributing towards the business, society, and economy.

''The USA looks at India as a country where they are connected and expand their businesses,'' he said.

He asserted that the pandemic will have different opportunities for the two nations leading to the growth and development of both nations. There will be a change in the business models and how they can leverage where the USA can play a pivotal role.

''We need to carefully calibrate our responses and witness shared growth with each other,'' Nagendra Prasad avowed.

He further mentioned that post-COVID-19 there will be an increase in the relations of India-USA with more investments, increased trade share, and expanded businesses between the two nations. He discussed the situation of the pandemic in the USA and the measures taken to mitigate the impact.

We need to accelerate the MSME sector to get on to the manufacturing of parts that is an area to be tapped, said Nagendra Prasad.

Sanjay Chadha, Additional Secretary, Ministry of Commerce and Industry, Govt of India while addressing the esteemed delegates mentioned that the trade divergence has always been there and COVID-19 has given it a further push. There has been a self - realization on the fact that over-dependence on a single country is not desirable and the focus needs to be more on the polarity of production, a sentiment which has come to stay for the long-term providing opportunities to the world.

''Due to this pandemic, our mission is to involve in increasing trade activities to promote trade and look at the opportunities for trade development,'' Chadha added.