Mentor on Road: 52 NRIs Adopt Villages in India

Fifty two Indian Americans settled in the United States have adopted their native villages to turn them into smart villages. The endeavor was the result of a 15,452-km road journey taken by Jagat Shah, an Ahmedabad-based trade and business consultant, from June to September this year. The exercise aimed to connect entrepreneurs of the two democracies with each other in a bid to encourage investments and create jobs.

“Even former Indian Army chief General Dalbir Singh Suhag, who interacted with us at one of our events in the U.S., has adopted his native village,” Shah was quoted as saying at the concluding ceremony of his mission held at New York on Sept. 19.

The initiative was undertaken with the sponsorship of the US Commercial Service (USCS); Startup India, a mission of the Indian Ministry of Commerce; the US-India Importers’ Council; and Etihad Airways.

Shah traveled across 35 cities in 24 states of the U.S. in 78 days as part of his multi-nation mission called Mentor on Road (MoR). The marathon, which had the theme Great America–New India, started on June 4 and ended on Sept. 17. During the journey, Shah interacted with nearly 4,400 small and medium entrepreneurs, women entrepreneurs and startups in the United States to make them aware of business opportunities and ease of doing business with India in different sectors.

MoR has submitted a quick market research to 60 companies in the United States. At least 18 women owners of enterprises also interacted with MoR, and investment discussions are in progress with 27 startups, Shah told the Hindu BusinessLine .

The cumulative U.S. investments in India in 2015 amounted to $23.8 billion in 2015 while the total Indian investment in America was $9.2 billion, according to U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis estimates. Nearly 2,000 American multi-nationals operate in India and employ over a million people. In contrast, there are over 200 Indian companies in the U.S. who have invested nearly $15 billion and employ around 100,000 people there.

Shah had previously done an MoR in India and Sri Lanka in 2015 and 2017, respectively. On completion of his India trip, he told the media: “When the foundations of the way and ease of doing business started changing since 2014, it was the call from the nation that change and awareness at grass-root level is a must. With the new vision of Digital India, Stand Up India – Start-Up India, SkillIndia, Smart Cities and Swachh Bharat (Clean India), I decided to go to the grassroots of India to realize this audacious dream gifted to us by the Prime Minister of India, Narendra Modi. I have completed the India tour of 35 cities in 25 states driving 9,500 km and met 10,000+ companies to understand their challenges and offer solutions on a global scale.”

His next destination, he says, will be Africa in 2018 when he will drive across 34 cities in 16 countries, traveling 21,075 km in 110 days.