German automotive parts company Schaeffler Group will set up a research and development unit in India. The maker of hydraulic clutch release systems, may hire up to 200 people. For all its trouble in the US, American car-maker General Motors is doing well in India. It plans to hire 150 engineers to support R&D for next generation engines, transmissions and hybrid; the company said it will enter into fuel cells research in India.

Meanwhile, Ilan Kinreich, COO of Radware, a provider application delivery solutions for business-smart networking, announced the opening of its R&D center in Bangalore. India is one of only three worldwide R&D locations for this American company.

And David Goulden, EMC’s Chief Financial Officer, recently committed to spend $1.5 billion to expand its research and development and services delivery in India until 2014. The company opened a 495,000 square-foot facility in Bangalore. It will house an R&D center and will deliver customer support services. The R&D facility is three times larger than the previous one, and can house up to 3,500 employees.

Top executives of companies are generally a sanguine bunch. But the economic crisis of 2008 shook their confident about future prospects and the recovery in confidence has not been uniform. According the 2010 Price Waterhouse Survey of 1,198 CEOs, 81 per cent of CEOs worldwide are confident of their prospects (compared to 61 pecent a year ago).

Indian execs as supremely confident at 97 per cent, whereas 91 per cent in China feel confident about their prospects; Only 80 percent of CEOs in the United States share their Asian brethren’s attitude.

By Christmas this year, the world’s largest refinery complex will be operational in western  India.  It will  produce 1.1 million barrels a day. Recent development  is partly financed by a loan guarantee from the Export Import Bank of the United States. American companies have played a major export role in the new refinery’s  success.  San Francisco based Bechtel provided design and project management, Kansas City-based Black & Veatch sold sulfur and gas treatment units, New Jersey’s Foster Wheeler provided industrial heaters, and UOP near Chicago supplied catalytic converters.

In 2007,  American sales into India shot up  a breathtaking 74.3% percent according to US government numbers.  Despite the slowdown, 2008 numbers so far have recorded a further 46.3% increase.  The gain spans many sectors. For instance Aircraft sales were up three times primarily on account of Boeing’s civilian successes. And the military wing of Boeing has just bid on a $10.5 billion fighter project. Another American vendor, Lockheed Martin is also in the race.  Sales of boilers and machinery rose  by  more than a third. So did fertilizers. And optical  and medical instruments rose 26%.

India is already among the top 20 trade partners for the United States but the future holds a much larger potential. My company’s clients are seeing rises in orders from India regardless of industry. In my book, Business in 21st Century India, I talk about the Six C’s driving demand in India.  Few western executives can afford to ignore the potential of India in these challenging times.