Washington: Indian companies have invested more than $26 billion in the U.S. in the last five years and the IT companies employ more than one lakh people in that country, New Delhi's top diplomat in Washington has said. "Indian companies are now contributing strongly to local State economies in the US with a presence in 43 states and having invested over $26 billion in the last five years in several key areas of the economy, in manufacturing as also in services," the Indian Ambassador to the U.S., Nirupama Rao, said yesterday. India's IT industry has in particular been a strong player in establishing value based mutually beneficial partnerships, Rao said in her address to Harvard's Kennedy School of Government, India-South Asia Programme. "As per our estimates, Indian IT companies employ over 100,000 people in the U.S. and the Indian IT industry supports over 280,000 jobs indirectly out of which about 200,000 are with US residents," she said. Rao said the steady growth of the Indian economy has not only helped improve the living standards of own people, but has also opened up new opportunities to expand mutually beneficial economic and commercial ties with the U.S. "Two-way trade in goods and services continues to grow steadily reaching over $100 billion last year. The U.S. businesses are becoming strong partners in India's economic growth story; and Indian businesses are creating value, wealth and jobs in the United States," she said. In order to continue on the high growth trajectory, India will need to invest more than $1 trillion in the coming years in building a world class infrastructure that could cater to the demands of a billion plus population and ensure the availability of clean sources of energy, including nuclear energy, to fuel such growth. Noting that the Civil Nuclear Initiative that has become a symbol of India-U.S. transformed relationship and was welcomed by both sides; she said there are immense opportunities for U.S. companies in this sector and Indian and U.S. companies are already engaged in a discussion to take cooperation forward in this crucial sector. On its part, the Government of India is committed to providing a level playing field for all its international partners, she reiterated.