Friday, September 15 2006 15:11 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

New York: With American businesses showing an increasing interest in India, United States Under Secretary of Commerce for International Trade Franklin L. Lavin will lead a trade delegation to India in November to explore avenues for expanding business ties between the two countries.

As many as 54 companies across all sectors including plastic mold manufactures, medical equipment manufacturers, food and beverage providers and insurance companies have registered and more were expected to do so in the next few weeks, Lavin told a select business reporters here yesterday.

"The time is right for the US companies to visit and start to figure out how they can fit into the picture. It should be no surprise that this is an unprecedented trade mission because India at the moment is undergoing unprecedented growth," he said.

He said to maximise fruitfullness, talks with Indian entrepreneurs would be broken down with concentration on generic issues such as taxes, tariffs and legal questions as well as in depth discussions.

Lavin said development of rural areas which offer vast opportunities would be area of particular interest.

He said rural areas should focus on sectors like retail and banking that would provide people employment in their own neighbourhoods, eliminating the need to move to urban areas and much needed credit to farmers at reasonable terms.

When asked he said opposition was dying in the US towards outsourcing to India since people have begun to realise that it is beneficial to both countries.

He pointed out that in order to be sustainable, trade had to be a two-way street or it could fizzle out within a few years.