While this newsletter goes to over 10,000 alumni globally and IIT.ORG  services alumni and friends all over the world, both are virtual services. To support the physical world, we are going to roll out electronic chapter services over the next several months.  There are two stories in this newsletter about this forthcoming initiative.

I want to take a moment in this issue for a personal note. When I first came  to the United States in 1979, I had to explain often that I was NOT a graduate of the Illinois Institute of Technology. Today, our IIT brand is respected the world over, but especially in the United States where the largest number of expatriate IIT alumni reside. But the "India" in "IIT" still has some ways to go. Let me explain:

At last week's US-India Business Council conference in Washington, DC, U.S. Trade Representative Susan Schwab jabbed the audience with the reminder that while the U.S. may be India's largest trading partner, India comes  17th in line for the United States! "In the company of such small countries as Belgium, Ireland and Malaysia," she added to twist the knife-jab a bit harder. Ouch. But it is true.

For India to earn its full measure of respect in the United States, bilateral trade must increase exponentially. IIT Alumni play a part in this equation. Kharagpur Alumnus PC Chatterji and Kanpur alumni  Raj & Nita Singh and Bombay alumni Suresh and Sudhakar Shenoy were also at this event.

My personal work at Amritt promotes such US-India trade. I also teach American executives how to understand India via my executive seminar at Caltech. And on the 31st of next month Warner/Hachette will publish my book "Business in 21st Century India: How to Profit Today from Tomorrow's Most Exciting Market."  In this book, which includes many interviews of IIT Alumni, I've highlighted the opportunities for foreign companies to benefit from a business relationship with India. The publisher will also release the book in India and in Europe by September. It is my hope that India will be among the top six trading partners for the United States surpassing Korea, Taiwan, Germany and the like by 2020.

 

 
Gunjan