Indian community rejoices as Modi announces 2 more consulates in US

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on September 22 announced that India will open new consulates in two major US cities, Boston and Los Angeles.

Mr Modi, on a tour of the US, announced this at a meeting of Indian Americans in New York, PTI reported. Mr Modi said this comes amid long-pending demand for consulates in these cities from the fast-growing Indian American community.

“Last year, I had announced that our government had plans to open a new consulate in Seattle. It is now operational. I had asked for suggestions from you for two more consulates. I am happy to announce that after reviewing your suggestions, India has decided to open two new consulates in Boston and Los Angeles,” Mr Modi said.

The report noted that Boston is considered the “education and pharma capital” of the United States, while Los Angeles, which houses Hollywood, will be hosting the next summer Olympics. Eric Garcetti, the present US Ambassador to India, is a former mayor of Los Angeles.

8 indian consulates 

India currently has six consulates in the US: Atlanta, Chicago, Houston, New York, San Francisco and Seattle. Besides this, the Indian Embassy is in Washington DC, and India's Permanent Mission to the United Nations (UN) is based in New York City.

The announcement was immediately welcomed by the Indian community in Los Angeles. “The Modi government listens and responds to the needs of Indian Americans and of American business and political leaders. I am grateful to Prime Minister Modi, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar and former Indian Ambassador to the United States Taranjit Sandhu for the decision to open a consulate in Los Angeles,” Gunjan Bagla, CEO of Amritt Inc, a Los Angeles-based consulting firm, told PTI.

Mr Bagla had led an effort in this regard. “We obtained over 3,600 signatures from Southern California residents. Dozens of American and Indian American organisations wrote letters to the Prime Minister’s Office,” he said.

Second largest US city, home to Hollywood

Los Angeles is the second largest city in the United States and its twin ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach handle about 40 percent of all overseas goods trade in the United States .

With the growing global importance of the Indo-Pacific, Los Angeles is the capital of the Pacific Rim and India needs to be present here.

“All but one of the G20 countries have consulates here in Los Angeles. American business executives with an interest in India will feel more engaged with a local consul general representing India. NRIs and Indian Americans will benefit in the case of emergency travel needs to India by not having to fly to San Francisco,” Mr Bagla said.

(By arrangement with livemint.com)