Obama to Visit India, and Both Sides Hope to Expand Ties

“There is a limited amount that the visit can achieve,” said Arvind Panagariya, an economist at Columbia University and an India expert. “As long as they give a good communiqué and send some positive signals, that’s the best we can expect.”

Analysts say the more concrete results may come from corporate, not government, meetings. The chief executives accompanying Mr. Obama will include Jeffrey R. Immelt of General Electric and Indra K. Nooyi, the Indian-born head of PepsiCo. They will meet with the likes of Ratan Tata, chairman of the multinational conglomerate Tata Group, and Mukesh Ambani, head of India’s biggest company, Reliance Industries.

Various events will also give executives from smaller companies a chance to mingle.

“The most immediate benefit of the visit could be that another group of American industry executives become aware of the India opportunity,” said one of the scheduled attendees, Gunjan Bagla, the managing director of Amritt Ventures, which advises American companies coming to India.

Trade and investment between the countries has grown sharply since the Indian government began easing state control of its economy in 1991.

But disagreements between the United States and India have been a big roadblock in negotiations in the Doha round of global trade talks, which have been stalled since 2008. American officials have been pushing for India and other developing nations to open more industries like financial services to foreign competition, while the Indians are seeking reductions in American farm subsidies.

American jobs are also a sore point. In Washington, Democratic lawmakers earlier this year pushed through a $2,000 increase in fees for employment visas, writing the law in such a way that it primarily hurt Indian technology companies. Mr. Obama has also advocated changing tax law to make it more expensive for American companies to outsource work to India and other countries.

That is why President Obama will probably focus his talks here on securing deals for American companies that can demonstrably create jobs in the United States, according to administration officials. Some of those deals, which might include the sale of Boeing cargo planes to India’s military forces, have been in negotiation for some time.

American companies like Wal-Mart are also hoping that New Delhi will allow them to set up retail stores in India. Right now, foreign companies cannot operate retail stores that sell products from multiple brands. Indian officials have recently signaled that they might soon change those rules.

The Indians, for their part, have said they hope Mr. Obama will agree to ease export restrictions on so-called dual-use technologies, like cryptography, that can be used for both military and civilian purposes.