India 'thinking big', 'moving big' in race against China: US lawmakers told

India is being quite strategic in certain sectors, said Dean of School of Public Policy, Robert Orr

India is "thinking big and moving big" to catch up fast in development as it lags behind its giant neighbour China, offering tremendous opportunities to a country like the US, American lawmakers have been told.

"India is moving quite quickly in a number of areas as well, again, on renewable energy, which is kind of a golden thread running through this hearing. India is thinking big and moving big," Robert Orr, professor and dean, University of Maryland, School of Public Policy, told lawmakers during a Congressional hearing.

"They have big goals on solar and wind. They are meeting them. They are surpassing them. And they will keep attracting investment, both domestic and international. Their smart cities initiative of the Prime Minister has many components. But I think it's a strategic vision that is both at once developmental and economic," Orr said in response to a question during a hearing on US Leadership in Asia-Pacific organised by the Senate Foreign Relations Subcommittee on East Asia.

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Orr said he had visited India last year with the former New York Mayor Michael Blomberg and met with a number of the top business leaders in India, talking with them about what they were going to be doing in the climate and energy space.(read more)