As Georgia focuses its attention increasingly toward India, local entrepreneur Ani Agnihotri is ready to help Atlanta businesses enter the Indian market with his newly established company, USIBRC LLC.

USIBRC, or the U.S.-India Business and Research Center, is conducting market research, setting up business meetings and organizing capital for U.S. companies looking to invest in or trade with India, Mr. Agnihotri told GlobalAtlanta.

The seven-person company enlists industry consultants to specialize in the autoparts, information technology, light manufacturing and services sectors, he said.

“We marry their industry expertise in vertical markets with our knowledge and contacts within the Indian market,” said Mr. Agnihotri, a native of New Delhi, who has developed some of his contacts in India as president and CEO of software development company, IIIrd Millennium Inc., which he co-founded in 2001.

IIIrd Millennium provides software solutions for the healthcare and technology industries, outsourcing software development operations to India.

Mr. Agnihotri has also developed contacts with Indian business professionals in both Georgia and his home country since opening the Georgia-Indo American Chamber of Commerce in 2000.

Through his work with the chamber, Mr. Agnihotri has developed insight into the Georgia-India business relationship, which he believes should only get stronger, he said, noting that he supported Georgia’s efforts to open a representative office in the country.

“If we don’t have an office there, we’re missing the boat. We’re letting other states get ahead of us,” he said. Georgia Department of Economic Development Commissioner Ken Stewart traveled to India in the spring to scout out potential sites to open a state office there.

In addition to IT, automotive, manufacturing and service sectors, Mr. Agnihotri also sees collaborative opportunities for U.S. and Indian businesss in the film industry.

“I think in the future, a lot of what will happen between Hollywood and Bollywood will be similar to what’s happening between the U.S. and India in the IT market right now,” he said of the two countries’ film industries.

He suggested that pre- and post-movie production might start being outsourced to India, that an increasing number of Indian actors would start appearing in American-made films and that major U.S.-based production companies would do more work in India.

He cited such U.S. production companies as Fox Searchlight Pictures, Sony Pictures Entertainment and Viacom as having already worked in India.

And Indian production companies might even start coming to the U.S. to film their movies, he said.

“They go to London all the time,” Mr. Agnihotri said, adding that Georgia had just as good of a shot as the United Kingdom at attracting Indian filmmakers.

While USIBRC has not worked on film-related projects since opening in February, Mr. Agnihotri’s contacts extend into India’s film production industry, and he looks forward to linking Georgia businesses to the industry, he said.

In addition to working with USIBRC, IIIrd Millennium and the Georgia-Indo American Chamber, Mr. Agnihotri also organizes an annual Indian film festival at the High Museum of Art in May.

This year’s festival opened with remarks from Georgia’s economic development commissioner, Mr. Stewart.

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