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Before a positive COVID-19 test led him to isolate in India, Georgia’s U.S. Sen. Jon Ossoff spent eight days in the country, his trip including meetings with top industrialists aimed at spurring further Indian investment in the state.
Mr. Ossoff on Sept. 2 also met with the Dalai Lama, the exiled Tibetan Buddhist leader who maintains ties with Atlanta through Emory University, in Dharamsala, where His Holiness runs his government-in-exile.
The senator’s visit started Aug. 31 in Mumbai, where he celebrated the Hindu holiday of Ganesh Chaturthi and visited with faith leaders in the Dharavi community, known as one of the world’s largest slums.
His office framed it as an experience that helped him learn about India’s diversity and Dharavi residents’ contributions to greater Mumbai.
“I have a deep appreciation for India’s diverse communities and I was honored to visit with new friends around Mumbai, including at two historic religious sites,” Mr. Ossoff said in a statement.
The following day, he met with the chairmen of two of India’s largest conglomerates: Tata Sons and Mahindra Group.
“I am leading this U.S. delegation to strengthen the friendship between our nations and to meet the next generation of Indian leaders,” Mr. Ossoff said in a statement. “We will also work to represent the Indian American community in Georgia, where the growing Indian diaspora is a thriving and beloved part of our community.”
Two weeks before departure on what was described as an eight-day economic mission, Mr. Ossoff was hosted at the Buckhead residence of Indian Consul General Swati Kulkarni, who has made it a priority to raise the country’s profile among elected officials in the South. Some 100,000 people of Indian descent live in Georgia.
“Senator Ossoff met with several leaders in political, social and business circles to deepen India-U.S. ties especially explore further areas of cooperation between India and Georgia,” Dr. Kulkarni told Global Atlanta in a statement via Whatsapp. “The successful and productive visit will surely promote the India-U.S. partnership of prosperity.”
Shared prosperity was a key theme of the senator’s visit, across various commercial sectors.
With Tata Sons Chairman Natarajan Chandrasekaran, Mr. Ossoff’s office says he discussed the prospect of deepening investment ties in solar energy and electric vehicles.
These sectors got a lift from the recently passed Inflation Reduction Act, the climate and budget bill that included solar-energy legislation championed by Mr. Ossoff. Celebrated by both foreign and domestic solar manufacturers with factories in the U.S., the law outlines tax incentives for U.S. production of components and panels along the solar supply chain, from polysilicon to cells, wavers and full-on solar modules.
Tata Sons is the primary shareholder of the Tata Group, a household name in India with interests across a variety of sectors, from steel, food and aerospace to automotive, technology and financial services. The group recently purchased Air India in a privatization deal; it already owns Jaguar Land Rover and produces cars in India under the Tata Motors brand, as well as auto parts and components. Its tech arm, Tata Consultancy Services, has a major presence in Georgia. Tata Aerospace has a joint venture with Lockheed Martin in Hyderabad to produce empennages (tail wings) for C-130 jets assembled at the American defense giant’s factory in Marietta. Tata also happens to own India’s largest power company.
Mr. Ossoff also met with Chairman Anand Mahindra of the Mahindra Group, along with the company’s CEO and Managing Director Anish Shah.
Another ubiquitous Indian conglomerate with a presence in 100-plus countries, Mahindra is an automotive powerhouse that is looking intently into electrification, with five electric SUVs on tap. It’s also the world’s largest tractor maker, in 2009 having closed a factory in Calhoun, Ga., which the chairman inaugurated in 2003. TechMahindra, another IT consultancy affiliated with the company, has an office employing 600 people in Alpharetta.
Mr. Ossoff’s itinerary also included stops at the Mumbai offices of the Aditya Birla Group, Georgia’s largest Indian investor by virtue of two mergers totaling billions of dollars more than a decade ago. The group owns Atlanta-based aluminum giant Novelis Inc. and Birla Carbon, formerly Columbian Chemical.
The commercial component of the senator’s visit also included a meeting with Uday Kotak, managing director of Kotak Mahindra Bank. Mr. Ossoff later joined a discussion with members of the American Chamber of Commerce in India, hearing firms based in Georgia or with a significant presence in both locales: Lockheed-Martin, UPS, Mastercard and packaging manufacturer WestRock.
On the political front, the 35-year-old senator met with Poonam Mahajan, one of the youngest members of India’s parliament, as well as the deputy chief minister of the state of Maharashtra, Devendra Gangadharrao Fadnavis, to “explore possible areas for collaboration and deepen economic ties between Georgia and Maharashtra.”
Mr. Ossoff has focused heavily on raising Georgia’s global profile, traveling to South Korea to meet with investors last fall. He met with India’s ambassador to the U.S., Taranjit Sandhu, in June and recorded a video message on the occasion of Indian independence day on Aug. 15.
After his Dharamsala visit, Mr. Ossoff headed to Delhi, where he was slated to go sightseeing and meet with Indian government officials Sept. 5-6 before a scheduled return flight to the U.S. Sept. 7. His positive COVID-19 test kept him isolated in India.
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