Explained: How US President Joe Biden's era impact India?

New Delhi, Jan 21: Joe Biden is being sworn in as the 46th US President. The theme is now centred around "America United". Being the largest economy, the American policy playbook under a new president matters to all countries. Let's take a look at how this would affect Indian economy.

What are the global expectations?

It can be seen that people were waiting for the president to unfold the broad contours of the US policy on globalization and international relations, especially with China, emerging economies, besides defence spending and economic stimulus in the wake of the novel coronavirus. Most expect a return to the pre-Trump era with the US playing a more active role in world dynamics.

Now, with Biden declaring "America is back", the message is of bold investment to boost the US economy ($1 trillion to be offered as direct relief to households and $440 billion earmarked for small businesses).

What changes in policy should India expect?

It can be seen that the US and India see each others as key strategic partners and analysts expect Indo-US relations to be less strained. The coalition against China is likely to persist and ties with India and other Pacific nations, including Japan and Australia, may be further boosted.

As Biden sworn-in as the US President, the major change India hopes for is in terms of-software exports, H1 visa policy, minimum compensation for engineers via which Trump tried discouraging hiring Indian IT professionals.

The US was seen putting pressure on India over its agri subsidy policy, for which, there may not be a major shift, but it might be easier to deal with the new regime.

Will there be impact on Indo-US bilateral relations?

In 2019-20, the bilateral trade between the two countries was at $88.75 billion. In 2019, the US was the largest goods export market (17 per cent share) for India and, in terms of goods import supplier, it was the third largest.

In April-September 2020, US was the second biggest FDI source for India. It's likely that higher portfolio investments influenced by federal rates will flow into India.