Doing business in India was "tough": Mike Pompeo on his Bengaluru days
Pompeo will travel to India between June 24-30
Washington, Jun 13: Ahead of his visit to India, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has revealed that he had a "tough" time as a businessman in Chennai and Bengaluru while trying to sell machine parts for the aerospace industry in the country.
Pompeo said this during his address to a Washington audience that included Google's Indian-American CEO Sundar Pichai and top corporate executives from India and the US at the India Ideas Summit on Wednesday.
Pompeo will travel to India, Sri Lanka, Japan and South Korea from June 24 to 30.
Responding to a question, Pompeo said that as a businessman, before he ran for the Congress, he had spent some time in Chennai and Bangalore trying to sell products to the Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL), India's leading public sector aerospace and defence company.
"I didn't tell the story I did business in India when I before I lost my mind and ran for Congress, I ran a small business that made machine parts for the aerospace industry.
"And I spent a fair amount of time in Bangalore and in Chennai working with HAL with Hindustan Aeronautics Limited to sell products we a small joint venture," the 55-year-old Secretary of State said at the event hosted by the US-India Business Council
"I'll tell you what. It was tough," Pompeo told the audience.
Prior to joining the Trump Administration, Pompeo was serving in his fourth term as congressman from Kansas' 4th District.
Prior to his service in Congress, Pompeo founded Thayer Aerospace, where he served as CEO for more than a decade. He later became President of Sentry International, an oilfield equipment manufacturing, distribution, and service company, according to his profile on the website of the US Department of State.
"India was still opening up, it was still figuring its way through, but there was a real value proposition there, and we did well," he said recollecting his experience in India as a businessman.
"When I think about that, when I think about what businesses need when they go to invest in each other's countries, they need stability, they need a set of rules that they can understand, they need to make sure that the efforts that we put forward together from the United States have sufficient bipartisanship, that they won't be whipsawed, as we have elections here," he said.
Though Indo-US relation was moving ahead well, differences remain in some of the key trade and business issues, he acknowledged.
"But we remain open to dialogue and hope our Indian friends will drop their trade barriers and trust in the competitiveness of their exporters and private-sector companies," he said.
Pompeo said the US will also push for the free flow of data across borders not just to help American companies but to protect data and ensure consumer privacy.
The Reserve Bank of India last year issued a new regulation requiring payments companies to store all information about transactions involving Indians solely on computers in the country. The US has criticised the move.
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Protests against Khamenei's killing: Curbs remain in force in Kashmir
Srinagar (PTI): Strict restrictions remained imposed in many areas of Kashmir for the third consecutive day on Wednesday following massive protests across the valley against the killing of Iran's Supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, officials said.
As a precautionary measure, the government shut educational institutions till Saturday, while mobile internet speed continued to remain throttled.
"Restrictions on the movement and assembly of the people continued in many parts of Kashmir on Wednesday," the officials said.
They said strict restrictions were being enforced especially in the parts having large Shia population and those areas which have witnessed massive protests over the last three days.
A large number of police and paramilitary CRPF personnel were deployed across the city to prevent gatherings of protestors, the officials said.
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They added that concertina wires and barricades were placed at important intersections leading into the city, while asserting that these were precautionary measures imposed to maintain law and order.
The iconic Ghanta Ghar in the city centre of Lal Chowk here continued to remain a no-go zone after the authorities sealed area with barricades erected all around it on late Sunday night.
The move to seal the Ghanta Ghar came after it witnessed massive protests on Sunday after Khamenei's assassination in the joint air strikes by the US and Israel.
This is the first time since August 2019 that protests on such a large scale have taken place in Kashmir.
The government had first ordered the closure of schools, colleges and universities for two days. However, on Tuesday it decided to close the educational institutions till Saturday as a precautionary measure in view of the protests.
Mobile internet speeds continued to remain throttled while some prepaid mobile connections were also barred, the officials added.
On Tuesday, protests rocked several places in the valley, including Sumbal and Pattan areas of North Kashmir.
In Sumbal of Bandipora district, security forces had to resort to force to disperse the demonstrators.
Some media outlets and individuals, including National Conference Lok Sabha MP from Srinagar Aga Syed Ruhullah Mehdi, and former Srinagar mayor Junaid Azim Mattu, faced police heat for allegedly circulating misleading information.
A case was filed against Mehdi and Mattu under BNS sections 197(1)(d) and 353(1)(b) at Cyber Police Station, Srinagar, for allegedly circulating "false, fabricated and misleading content" on digital and social media platforms.
"The content in question, prima facie, reflects the dissemination of distorted narratives and unverified information capable of causing public unrest and societal disharmony. Such deliberate attempts to spread misinformation pose a serious threat to peace, security, and overall stability," the police said in a statement.
Both have been condemning the killing of Khameinei and the attacks by the US and Israel on Iran.
However, hours after the registration of the case, Mehdi, an influential Shia leader, said he would not be deterred from speaking the truth.
"The people of Srinagar did not elect their MP to recite government-approved condolences. They elected him to speak truth. That mandate does not expire with an FIR," he said in a post on X.
Police has issued an appeal to people to refrain from violence and provocation.
"We appeal to all sections of the society to exercise restraint and refrain from violence and provocation," it said.
Police said they will take strict legal action against instigators of violence and those involved in unlawful activities.
On Tuesday, Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha directed officials to be on high alert and chaired a meeting of top officials of the police and army here.
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"Chaired a meeting of senior police & civil administration officials at the Police Control Room, Kashmir, to review the law and order situation. Directed the officers to remain on heightened alert and take all necessary measures to ensure public peace and tranquillity," Sinha said on X.
He appealed to the people and community leaders to maintain peace.
"I also appeal to the citizens and community leaders to uphold harmony and contribute to an atmosphere of calm and goodwill in society. Preserving peace and sustaining the progress of society is a shared responsibility that rests equally upon each one of us," he said.
