Indiana Gov. Eric Holcomb is going on a trade mission to India next week.
The Republican will be joined by Indiana's First Lady Janet Holcomb and Indiana Secretary of Commerce Jim Schellinger. They are visiting Delhi, Bangalore, Mysore and Pune.
The delegation will leave Oct. 27 and return Nov. 3. The goal of the trip is to meet with government officials and prospective businesses that may be interested in establishing a presence in Indiana.
Holcomb will also meet with Infosys executives. The India-based outsourcing giant is set to open offices in Indianapolis that are projected to create thousands of jobs.
Holcomb's trip was announced in a news release Wednesday. It will be his third international trade mission since taking office in January
Indiana is home to at least nine India-based corporations, specializing in tech, life sciences and manufacturing. Indiana exports to India have increased 117 percent since 2006, totaling $266.6 million in 2016, while India-based companies have made significant job creation plans in recent years.
In addition to Infosys, Appirio announced plans in 2015 to designate Indianapolis as its corporate headquarters and grow its headcount from 150 to 577 associates by the end of 2020. The global cloud services provider was acquired by Bangalore-based Wipro in November 2016 but maintains its headquarters in Indianapolis.
In addition, many of Indiana’s higher education institutes share ties to India, with more than 3,600 Indian undergraduate, graduate and professional students studying at Indiana University and Purdue University last year. Purdue University also has been home to the largest enrollment of Indian undergraduate students of any U.S. college or university, with 881 students in the fall of 2016.
The cost of the state delegation is being covered through private donations to the Indiana Economic Development Foundation.
In September, Holcomb led an eight-day mission to Japan, which included meeting with Japanese government officials, national business chambers and executives of Japanese companies with operations in Indiana, including Subaru, Toyota and Honda.
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