Pepsico, Citigroup CEOs Among 200 Biz Leaders to Meet With Obama in India

If the business community is so angry with President Barack Obama, then why have some 200 business leaders traveled to India with him after so many claim he is "anti-business"?

According to the White House and several published news reports, about 200 business executives from America's largest corporations, as well as some small and midsized enterprises, will meet with Obama in Mumbai, India on Saturday, to discuss a number of issues central to international trade between the U.S. and India.

Sponsored Links

Prominent CEOs expected on the trip include Indra Nooyi of Pepsico (PEP), Vikram Pandit of Citigroup (C), Boeing Co.'s (BA) Jim McNerney, Louis Chênevert of United Technologies Corp. (UTX), Honeywell International Inc.'s (HON) David Cote, General Electric Co.'s Jeffrey Immelt (GE) and Terry McGraw of the McGraw Hill Companies (MHP).

The business leaders are traveling with the president to put themselves in position to acquire some of the lucrative trade opportunities between the U.S. and India that have already reached more than $32 billion during the first eight months of 2010. By year's end, trade between the two nations should easily top the $37 billion that the commerce department reported for all of 2009 – more than double the level of trade in 2003.

By the end of the trip, maybe Obama will have doubled the number of allies he has in the business community.