200 heavyweight NRIs on Clinton's entourage

200 heavyweight NRIs on Clinton's entourage
CHIDANAND RAJGHATTA

NEW DELHI, MARCH 17: New economy pioneers and dotcom parvenus, popular physicians and corporate pundits, internet princes and financial punters...some 200-plus heavyweight NRI types are piling onto the Presidential bandwagon that rolls into town this weekend ahead of Bill Clinton's touchdown in India.

The close-knit Presidential party on Air Force One itself is expected to have only a small party of NRIs -- for fear of attracting campaign finance scrutiny -- but scores of desi achievers are making the trip, many under the aegis of US-India Business Council.

Expected to be on Air Force One are some familiar Indian-American community veterans with close ties to both the Democratic Party and the Republican Party. Among them: Sunil Aghi, President of the Indo-American Political Foundation; Ramesh Kapur, a Massachusetts tycoon who contributes heavily to the Democrats; Swadesh Chatterjee of PCS who is close to the Republicans, especially to Senator Jesse Helms; Niranjan Shah, CEO of Globetrotter Engineering Company; Krish Srinivasan, who was a colleague of former speaker Newt Gingrich; Democratic factotum Sunil Puri, CEO of the First Rockport Group; and a young Maryland Legislator, Kumar Barve.

Some half-a-dozen lawmakers are expected to accompany the President along with his cabinet colleagues Secretary of State Madeleine Albright, Richard Daley (commerce), Bill Richardson (energy secretary) and Larry Summers (treasury secretary). Legislators will include Gary Ackerman, Co-chairperson of the India Caucus, Jim McDermott and Frank Pallone.

The real buzz though centres around the Indian digerati, the high-tech tycoons and tyros who are convulsing the new economy in the US and elsewhere. On the Presidential yatra, the peripatetic Kanwal Rekhi, an IITian who was CEO of Novell and the father figure of the Indian techno-diaspora; Suhas Patil, founder of ATM chain Cirrus Logic, and K.B.Chandrasekhar, founder of the web hosting giant, Exodus.

Desh Deshpande, the billionaire founder of the optical networking pioneer Sycamore, has also been invited but there is some doubt about his making it due to prior business commitments. Sources said he and venture capitalist P.C.Chatterjee are expected to announce a multi-million dollar education fund to coincide with the President's visit.

Also in the party are some of the newer dotcom and internet pioneers: Pavan Nigam of Healtheon Web MD; Ashok Trivedi of IGate Capital Corporation; Arun Bhumitra of Arjay.Net; Davinder Dogra of E-Indiabiz.com; P.B.Ram Reddyof Apex Technologies; Raj Vattikuti of Complete Business Solutions; Anil Srivastava of AcrossWorld Communications; and Ravi Subramanian of Silverline Technologies.

Indian high-flyers from traditional hi-tech companies include Prem Jain, Vice-President of Cisco Systems. The presence of a large number of Indian from the tech world is an attestation of the increasing and visible success they are having in the US. The popular US national radio network, NPR, had a lengthy programme on Friday morning on the stirring Indian success story in the new economy. Besides his much-ballyhooed -- but now fleeting -- visit to Hyderabad, Clinton is expected to meet a group of young entrepreneurs in Mumbai.

The presidential party is not short on representation from traditional Indian forte either. The 30,000-strong Indian physicians constituency is also well-represented with community stalwarts like Dr Shambhu Banik, Dr Dinesh Patel, Dr Mukund Modi and Dr Sudhir Parekh. So too the growing Indian presence in the international financial community -- Hemendra Kothari of DSP Merill Lynch, Prakash Shah of the First Growth Group; and Nalluru Murthy of Self Venture Capital and Investor.

A media party of some 200 journalists will also roll into town with only a small group of pool reporters on Air Force One. In fact, some media celebrities have already pitched tent here. ABC's Peter Jennings will be broadcasting his World News Tonight from New Delhi for the next week.