United States President George W. Bush has his eyes firmly set on the economy, as he prepares the ground for his visit to India. If Mr Bush used his Asia Society speech on Wednesday night to address Indians, he also tried to hardsell the emerging Indo-US relations to a restive domestic audience by suggesting that India is a potential market for American goods and services in the short and the long term.

It can become an even "bigger market" for America’s businesses and workers and farmers as Indian economy grows, he said in the televised address ahead of his first trip to India, suggesting in the process that an economic component to the strategic partnership could not be mistaken.

Allaying fears about outsourcing and job-losses, Mr Bush also ventured to placate some Americans by asserting that trade with India would create opportunities at home and make the United States companies more competitive. "It’s good," he said, "Younger Indians are acquiring a taste for pizzas from Domino’s and Pizza Hut."

"We must also recognise that India’s growth is creating new opportunities for our businesses, farmers and workers. India’s middle-class is now estimated at 300 million people. That’s greater than the entire population of the United States," he observed. "India’s middle-class is buying air-conditioners, kitchen appliances, and washing machines, and a lot of them from American companies like GE, and Whirlpool, and Westinghouse. Today Indian consumers associate American brands with quality and value, and this trade is creating opportunity here at home," he said.

The Microsoft India Development Centre (MIDC) in Hyderabad has developed the Microsoft Dynamics Snap, a new collection of software programs that snap in to Microsoft Office 2003, the software giant said on Thursday."The four new programs can increase productivity by enabling Microsoft Office users to interact with Microsoft Dynamics business information as they create documents, collaborate, and manage their calendar — all without leaving Microsoft Office," Microsoft said in a statement.

"The programs enable information workers to easily coordinate and manage data in certain Microsoft Dynamics business management solutions using the familiar interface of Microsoft Office 2003," it said."Microsoft Dynamics Snap is yet another example of the "end to end" cutting edge product development taking place at MIDC. This has been an extremely exciting project for us, and in a short span of six months we were able to conceptualise, develop and ship the product to customers and partners," said Rajiv Kumar, director, Mi-crosoft Business Solutions Group, at the MIDC.

Commenting on the product features, Satya Nadella, Microsoft corporate vice-president, MBSG, said, "We have articulated a vis-ion for Microsoft Dynamics that involves two waves of releases. One of the key goals of the first wave is to deliver a user experience that is deeply integrated with Office by using a roles-based approach."