India on Sunday signed three agreements with the US for developing smart cities in Ajmer, Allahabad and Visakhapatnam, with the government saying that the agreements would make significant contribution to building such cities in the country.
India, along with Southeast Asian countries such as Indonesia, is expected to sustain growth in the medium-term in Asia region, replacing China as the key growth driver, Morgan Stanley and Nomura said in two separate reports released on Monday. While Morgan Stanley projected a 6.2 per cent gross domestic product (GDP) growth forecast for India in FY24, Nomura estimated the Indian economy to grow at 5.9 per cent in 2023. "Even with a slowing China, we expect GDP growth in Asia to sustainably outperform other emerging markets and the US. India and Southeast Asia are set to be the fastest-growing economies this decade.
New Delhi remains a priggish suitor to Washington's overtures, but it has begun appreciating potential tech benefits to ties with the US.
Indian billionaires Mukesh Ambani and Anand Mahindra, Apple CEO Tim Cook and corporate leader Indira Nooyi were among the guests. CEOs of Google, Microsoft and Adobe -- Sunder Pichai, Satya Nadella and Shantanu Narayen -- also attended the event.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi arrived in the Japanese city of Hiroshima on Friday to attend the annual summit of the G7 grouping and the third in-person Quad leaders' meeting during which he will exchange views with world leaders on global challenges and discuss ways to collectively address them.
'For the first time since I've been following Indian politics, one heard voters talking about India's role on the world stage and the fact that, due to Modi's leadership, India was once again a great power.'
On a mission to cool soaring bilateral tensions, United States Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Sunday held extensive talks with his Chinese counterpart Qin Gang on a range of issues, including the Taiwan issue and the Ukraine war.
'No Cold War should be reignited and no Ukraine-style crisis should be repeated in Asia'
He also said that it is more than a relationship between the two countries.
Amid mass layoffs in the tech sector, the federal agency for immigration services has said it is wrong to assume that sacked workers holding the much-sought-after H-1B visas have to leave the country within 60 days, asserting they have multiple options to stay in the US. The H-1B visa is a non-immigrant visa that allows US companies to employ foreign workers in speciality occupations that require theoretical or technical expertise. Technology companies depend on it to hire tens of thousands of employees each year from countries like India and China.
"This is something to be proud of," said Raj Panjabi, who is currently serving as Senior Director for Global Health Security and Biodefence on the White House National Security Council.
United States Deputy Secretary of Defence Ashton Carter, who arrived in India on a two-day visit on Monday, has masterminded a proposal that could dramatically boost US-India defence relations.
Describing the state visit of Prime Minister Narendra Modi to America as a "watershed moment" in bilateral ties, US Ambassador to India Eric Garcetti has said that this week will be one of those moments that can change the course of history as the two democracies get together for peace and prosperity.
As India and the United States are set to begin negotiations on two transformational deals -- Security of Supply Arrangement (SOSA) and Reciprocal Defence Procurement Agreement (RDP) -- the Pentagon has said that the defence industries of the two nations will come together once the negotiations conclude.
Chanting slogans of "Modi Modi" and India-US friendship, Indian Americans walked in a procession for over an hour towards the historic Lincoln Memorial where the participants busted into an impromptu dance.
'And if the United States, at that time, perceives India to have welched on the deal, not been our friend, when we did so much to make it a friend, that's trouble.'
Oil producers cartel OPEC's share in India's oil imports fell to an all-time low of 46 per cent in April as purchases of cheaper Russian oil peaked, industry data showed. Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) nations, mainly in the Middle East and Africa, had a 72 per cent share of all crude oil India imported in April 2022. This share slid to 46 per cent in April 2023, according to energy cargo tracker Vortexa.
Speaking at a summit organised by the US-India Business Council in Washington DC, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton pushed for stronger economic and diplomatic ties between the United States and India.
Prime Minister Modi will embark on his first state visit to the United States at the invitation of President Joe Biden and First Lady Jill Biden in June.
The resolution condemns additional Chinese provocations, including China's use of military force to change the status quo along the Line of Actual Control, construction of villages in contested areas, publication of maps with Mandarin-language names for cities and features in the Indian state of Arunachal Pradesh, and expansion of Beijing's territorial claims in Bhutan.
In perhaps what could be his swansong appearance as the Obama administration's point man for South Asia, Robert Blake has acknowledged that the impasse over the implementation of the US-India civilian nuclear deal poses many challenges to Washington and New Delhi.
'This is a historic juncture when the US is in great need of an alliance with India to strengthen its hands in the fierce struggle with China in the Asian theatre,' points out Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar.
Ron Somers, president of the US-India Business Council, has said that the top priority on his organisation's wish list for the Obama Administration is that "we are intent on seeing a bilateral investment treaty executed between our countries."
The US Commission for International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) also recommended to the Congress to raise the issue of religious freedom during US-India bilateral meetings, and hold hearings on it.
Announcing the hotline, the Chinese defence ministry said as agreed upon by the defence departments of China and Japan, the two sides have recently completed the construction of a direct telephone line for the sea and air liaison mechanism and will maintain communication on the arrangement for the launch.
White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said the upcoming visit will affirm the deep and close partnership between the United States and India.
'The prime minister is talking to his Chachaji and he is crying in the PM's lap, it was such an emotional scene.'
With the Nifty50 just about 3 per cent away from its all-time closing high of 18,812 points, analysts at BofA Securities suggest investors book profit. Their reasons for the advice include risks like the possibility of a cut in corporate earnings growth forecasts, high valuation (one-year forward P/E of 19.5x), interest rates staying elevated for longer-than-expected and credit tightening. Going ahead, they expect the Nifty50 index to drop to 16,000 levels - down nearly 12 per cent from the current level of 18,255 points, which they believe would be a good time to buy.
Rohit has been enduring a second consecutive poor IPL season with the bat
'While the US-Pakistan relationship has been stabilised, it's still mired in uncertainty.'
The first state visit of Prime Minister Narendra Modi to the US is likely to be a defining moment for Indo-US relationship and both sides are working on a robust outcome document that may take up matters that would decide the contour of the bilateral ties for decades to come, according to people familiar with the planning of the high-profile trip.
Strobe Talbott, former United States deputy secretary of state who laid the foundation for better US-India ties, on how they can be taken higher.
Ajay Banga was on Wednesday appointed the next president of the World Bank, becoming the first-ever Indian-American to head the global financial institution which said it looks forward to working with him at a time when it's tackling the toughest development challenges facing developing countries. "The executive directors of the World Bank today selected Ajay Banga as president of the World Bank for a five-year term beginning June 2, 2023," the bank said in a press statement. In February, President Joe Biden announced that the US would be nominating Banga, 63, to lead the World Bank because he is "well equipped" to lead the global institution at "this critical moment in history."
India needs a helping hand and the country best placed to provide it, in every way, military, political and economic, is the US, says Premvir Das.
The former Los Angeles mayor's nomination was pending before the US Congress since July 2021 when he was nominated for the prestigious diplomatic posting by Biden.
As the Indian Institute of Technology- Kanpur (IIT-K) is celebrating its 50th anniversary, a top US official said the success story of this leading Indian institute reflects the Indo-US cooperation in the field of education.
The US is taking several measures, such as increasing the number of staffers, to further facilitate the issuance of business visas in India, a senior US government official said on Tuesday. "We have also made significant progress by issuing more H1B and L visas in 2022 than we did even in 2019 before the pandemic. "This is a significant improvement. We are in the process of raising our staff," Arun Venkataraman, US Assistant Secretary of Commerce for global markets, said.
It is time for the US to reposition its foreign policy.
"President Biden is looking forward to seeing Prime Minister Modi at the G20 this year, as we look ahead to the next year," he said.
