- Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s first state visit to the United States of America has generated lots of hype, buzz, sound bytes, wide coverage, and most importantly, great attention from the influential leaders within the States. Why only in India or the USA, the entire global community sat up and taken notice of how the world’s oldest and the largest democratic countries are coming together in furthering their mutual interests? To his credit, ever since Narendra Modi assumed office in 2014, he has invested considerable time, resources, and energy in cultivating Indian diplomacy around the globe with a determined focus. Modi is now recognized as one of the tallest world leaders largely owing to the tireless diplomatic efforts of the last few years.
PC: The Canadian Press
- Of course, all political leaders will have an eye on cultivating the vote banks domestically, and as such, image-building efforts assume tremendous importance. Mind you, Indian opposition ranks are ganging up against the Modi-led NDA government at the Centre keeping in mind the ensuing Lok Sabha elections in 2024. Thus, Modi’s visit to the USA is likely to transform not only the Indo-American relationship but also give a fillip to the NDA government to position itself as an achiever by whipping up enough emotions before the big elections. Against this backdrop, a state visit by Modi should be viewed as a deeper expression of bilateral ties. Note that Indi-US ties first moved to another plane in 2005 following the civil nuclear accord and a new framework on defense ties.
- The highlight since then is its institutionalization and cross-party support in both countries. These features have led to engagements at many levels of government and military. Moreover, the strongest bond between the two countries comes from the successful Indian diaspora of about 5 million. Modi has already met CEOs, a group where there’s a fair sprinkling of the diaspora. After 18 years, bilateral ties have developed two distinct tracks. The one where progress has been fast is the strategic track where China’s aggressive revisionism has created areas of alignment. Within this track, defense ties have deepened and the US is now India’s third largest arms supplier with an 11% share of India’s imports.
PC: JND
- A deal that will see India acquiring Predator drones is likely to be announced, and a key jet engine technology will be transferred by the US. The track that’s underperformed is trade even though the US is India’s largest partner with a bilateral merchandise trade of $128.8 billion in 2022-23. This can change as the risks posed by China’s 16.5% share of America’s $3.2 trillion imports, making it the largest supplier of foreign goods to Americans, present India with opportunities. Friend-shoring is a risk mitigation tool that India needs to leverage to deepen its trade ties with the US. Hopefully, Modi’s visit will seriously firm up collaboration and deliverables on every front including diversification of the supply chain of our defence industry.
