- Tuesday, February 25, 2025
By: Shubham Ghosh
INDIAN prime minister Narendra Modi kicked off his high-profile official visit to the United States on Thursday (23) by meeting five chief executive officers (CEO) of some leading American firms from five key fields. Two of the CEOs – Shantanu Narayen of Abode and Vivek Lall of General Atomics – are Indian-Americans. The others are Christian E Amon of Qualcomm, Stephen A Schwarzman of Blackstone and Mark Widmar of First Solar.
The prime minister’s talks with the corporate leaders were about economic opportunities in India. His one-on-one meetings started with Amon, who expressed interest to work with India in areas like 5G and Digital India. The meeting was significant since India is pushing for 5G technology.
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Talking technology…
President and CEO of @Qualcomm, @cristianoamon and PM @narendramodi had a productive interaction. PM Modi highlighted the vast opportunities India offers. Mr. Amon expressed keenness to work with India in areas such as 5G and other @_DigitalIndia efforts. pic.twitter.com/kKcaXhpFtB
— PMO India (@PMOIndia) September 23, 2021
Adobe CEO Shantanu Narayen joined the company in 1998 as the vice president and general manager of its engineer technology group. He became the president and chief operating officer in 2005, chief executive officer in 2007 and chairman of the board in 2017. The 58-year-old Hyderabad-born Narayen has a degree in electronics engineering from Osmania University, Hyderabad; a master’s degree in computer science from Bowling Green State University in Ohio and master’s in business administration from the University of California. His meeting with Modi reflects the Indian government’s digital priorities.
Modi makes 7th visit to US as prime minister
Mr. Shantanu Narayen of @Adobe is a great friend of India’s. I sat down with him to discuss interesting ideas relating to ed-tech, supporting Indian start-ups and boosting innovation. Shantanu expressed keenness to take the joys of video and animation to every child in India. pic.twitter.com/MijntOHiRZ
— Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) September 23, 2021
Lall, who was born in Jakarta in Indonesia, is a renowned scientist who took over as the CEO of General Atomics Global Corporation in San Diego, California, in June last year. He worked in defence company Raytheon where he was involved with the Joint Primary Aircraft Training System Beechcraft T-6 Texan II. Lall has also worked on various disciplines at the NASA Ames Research Center. In 1999, he joined Boeing as an aerospace engineer and worked on computational fluid dynamics and loads and dynamics for the 757-300 and 777 aircraft.
Drones is an upcoming sector in India and it is of particular interest to the youth. Interacted with Mr. Vivek Lall of @GeneralAtomics Global Corporation and spoke about how India is ushering a paradigm shift in drones policy, seen in our PLI scheme and reform measures. pic.twitter.com/8cEE2YcJ2s
— Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) September 23, 2021
In 2003, Boeing moved Lall to Delhi, India, as the managing director of Boeing Commercial Airplanes. In 2007, Lall became the vice-president and Country Head for India, Boeing Defense Space & Security and under his leadership, Boeing concluded the US-India defence deals for C17 strategic lift, P-8I Anti-submarine warfare aircraft and Harpoon Missiles.
Lall also has worked as the chairman of the Indo-US Strategic Dialogue by the Indo-American Chamber of Commerce, has been a Distinguished Fellow at India’s think tank Observer Research Foundation and served as the chairman of the Defense Committee of The Association of Chambers of Commerce and Industry of India.
Modi’s meeting with Lall is significant as General Atomics is a pioneer in military drone technologies and the world’s top manufacturer of military drones, which the US shares only with its key allies.
The subject of solar energy is very close to my heart, because it concerns the future of our planet. Met the CEO of @FirstSolar, Mr. Mark Widmar and discussed why India is the right destination to invest in solar energy. Also talked about our green hydrogen mission. pic.twitter.com/5IWO9pA2pw
— Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) September 23, 2021
It was a delight to meet Mr. Stephen Schwarzman, the CEO of @blackstone. His commercial success and intellectual prowess are admirable. We talked about India’s investment potential and why our country is one of the world’s most attractive destination for investment. pic.twitter.com/SwlY233stt
— Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) September 23, 2021
First Solar is a leading global provider of comprehensive photovoltaic solar solutions and Blackstone is one of the world’s leading investment firms.
