Finance Secretary DC Gupta has flown to New York to seal a property deal worth $10 million for the government.
According to government sources, the move was unusual given the fact that it required the country's finance secretary to be present in person in the US.
The sources said the deal would see the Indian mission in the US acquiring additional space in Washington.
Gupta, who holds charge of the expenditure department, heads both the Expenditure Finance Committee, which clears all proposals up to Rs 200 crore (Rs 2 billion), and the Public Investment Board, which approves proposals entailing a spend of over Rs 200 crore.
The sources said India wanted to expand its mission in the US by acquiring more space. The ministry of external affairs approached the finance ministry with the proposal from a private US party to sell office space in Washington. The Indian mission had advertised in the US for purchasing property readily available for sale.
The sources said the property was owned by a private party and not the US government. The finance secretary left for New York earlier this week and will be back in New Delhi by the end of this week.
Acquisition of additional space in Washington should be seen in the context of closer economic and defence ties between the two countries. The situation has changed after September 11 and specially with the US seeking India's military assistance in Iraq.
US President George Bush and Indian Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee have been in constant touch with Bush calling up his Indian counterpart a few days ahead of the WTO's Cancun ministerial for greater co-operation between the two countries at the trade talks.
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