Gov. Phil Murphy signed Executive Order No. 354 Tuesday establishing the New Jersey-India Commission.

The group is tasked with advancing bilateral trade, investment, and economic development between the Garden State and the most populous country in the world.

Officials note that India is New Jersey’s second-largest foreign direct investor, where a huge chunk of the state’s immigrant population hails from. In fact, over the past two decades, India has invested some $2 billion into the state – helping to create nearly 6,000 jobs in sectors such as life sciences and technology.

“I am honored to establish the New Jersey-India Commission to strengthen the cultural and economic ties between New Jersey and India for generations to come,” said Murphy. “Following my visit to India in 2019, we have been committed to strengthening our relationship, building on the overlapping economic strengths that New Jersey and India have long shared. We take immense pride in the contributions of our vast Indian immigrant population, and through this commission, we can ensure that we seize a new century of opportunities to grow together and pioneer new possibilities.”

Consul General of India Binaya Srikanta Pradhan said that India’s partnership with New Jersey is unique in several ways.

“It is a potential story of dynamic convergence and confluence of India’s economic resilience, presence of a highly successful Indian-American community and America’s spirit of innovation, fostering a landscape ripe with opportunities across sectors,” said Pradhan. “Gov. Murphy’s initiative to establish the New Jersey-India Commission would add strength to already existing high level of economic engagement in terms of over $10 billion trade with New Jersey or several two-way investments. This would also give a boost to the strong people-to-people connect that exists between India and New Jersey including in areas of education and knowledge partnership.”

The commission will be housed in the Department of State and have between 35 and 45 members. Appointed by the governor, the group will provide advice to Murphy, as well as other agencies and departments.

Murphy announced the first appointments to the commission, starting with Wesley Mathews, president and CEO of Choose New Jersey, who will serve as chair.

The full list of appointees includes:

• Dini Ajmani
• Natasha Alagarasan
• Sri Atluri
• Snehal Batra
• Coleen Burrus
• Ravi Dattatreya
• Kirti Desai
• Parimal Garg
• Vin Gopal
• Balpreet Grewal-Virk
• Kiran Handa Gaudisoso
• Pavita Howe
• Jaime Jacob
• Monica Jain
• Gurbir Johal
• Suchitra Kamath
• Krishna Kishore
• Vidya Kishore
• Kris Kolluri
• Indu Lew
• Jose Lozano
• Anjali Mehrota
• Deelip Mhaske
• Raj Mukherji
• Suresh Muthuswami
• Srinivas Pallia
• Anand Paluri
• Falguni Pandya
• Carrie Parikh
• Rajiv Parikh
• Gurpreet Pasricha
• Deepak Raj
• Jatin Shah
• Huzaifa Shakir
• Sterley Stanley
• Ragy Thomas
• Steven Van Kuiken
• Christina Zuk

“As Secretary of State, I am thrilled to welcome the commission to my department and look forward to overseeing its work building on the deep-rooted economic, cultural, and societal ties between New Jersey and India,” said Lt. Gov. Tahesha Way, who also serves as secretary of state. “New Jersey’s Indian population enriches our state, and through this commission, we are creating further opportunities for collaboration.”

“The multiple economic missions the state has taken to India since 2019, including the number of sister-state relationships established and MOUs signed across higher education, life science, and the technology sectors prove that we have shared visions for our economies and peoples,” said Mathews. “I am eager to get to work with my colleagues in pursuit of an even stronger and more robust partnership.”