Prospects of India-US economic ties bright

Indo-US trade is yet to reach its full potential. Time is opportune for advancing India's economic ties with the US in the interest of not only the two nations but the whole world.

The outcome of the recent visit of US Secretary of Treasury Janet L Yellen to India offers yet another indication that Washington's focus in its relations with New Delhi is primarily on economy.

Observers say relations between the United States and India, the world's most powerful and largest democracies, have largely been cordial since India attained Independence. The interests of the two nations have seldom directly collided with each other.

The United States and India need to improve their economic relations in the contemporary world. India today is the world's fifth largest economy. New Delhi is all set to assume the G-20 presidency next month. It is to steer the global economic and trade agenda towards greater equity. This would be helpful to the United State in moving in a similar direction.

Pertinently, the United States shares with India a common interest in strengthening supply chains in the contemporary world. Washington is keen to minimize its vulnerability to any supply-chain disruptions. India, with its fast-expanding economic base today, can help the United States mitigate the ill-effects of any over-dependence on select suppliers.

The observers say New Delhi would do well to advance its own interests by making serious efforts aimed at boosting its economic ties with Washington. The United States is one of India's largest trading partners today.

According to a reliable estimate, in 2021-22, bilateral trade in goods between the two countries crossed $119.42 billion. India's exports to the US increased to $76.11 billion in 2021-22 from $51.62 billion in previous fiscal year. India's imports from the US rose to $43.31 billion from $29 billion during the corresponding period. However, Indo-US trade is yet to reach its full potential.

India needs the current dispensation in Washington to rectify the economic ruptures caused by the previous US administration's antagonistic decisions on trade, including the withdrawal of duty-free access to Indian exporters under the Generalized System of Preferences (GSP).

Time is opportune for advancing India's economic ties with the United States in the interest of not only the two nations but the whole world. In a speech during her India sojourn, Yellen rightly remarked, "We live in difficult and complicated times. We face urgent problems that require concerted and collective action... no significant global issue can be solved without the cooperation of our two countries."

(Jagdish N. Singh is a senior journalist based in New Delhi. He is also Senior Distinguished Fellow at the Gatestone Institute, New York)

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