India-US trade grows despite worldwide downturn

The US has been a healthy market for Indian textiles

A report has been released in Delhi detailing the level of trade between India and the US ahead of the four-day visit by President Barack Obama.

It says that trade between them is growing despite the global downturn.

The report also shows that while previously this trade was dominated by American firms, Indian companies have now become major investors in the US.

India is now one of the fastest growing US sources of investment, the report says, and that is likely to continue.

Over the past two decades, many US companies have moved their operations to India, cutting jobs at home.

Outsourcing has become a big political issue in Washington and as a presidential candidate Barack Obama spoke out strongly against it.

The report shows how Indian companies are no longer just taking American jobs, but now actually creating them as well.

Written by the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI) and the accounting firm Ernst and Young, the report says that Indian firms setting up in the US have created or saved at least 40,000 jobs there since 2004.

India's ambassador to Washington, Meera Shankar, says this is proof that the relationship between the two economies is increasingly beneficial to both.

"Overall the relationship is robust, it is growing in both directions and it's creating jobs and prosperity in both countries. I think that is the important point."