India’s post-2014 economic transformation anchors ties with US: Envoy Vinay Kwatra

India’s ambassador to the US, Vinay Kwatra, said the SHANTI Act has opened up opportunities for private sector cooperation in civil nuclear energy. File | Photo credit: ANI

“India’s economic transformation since 2014 has been the anchor point of its expanding cooperation with the US,” India’s ambassador to the US Vinay Mohan Kwatra said in Washington.

Speaking at the Capitol Hill 2026 Summit organized by the US-India Friendship Council (USIFC) in Washington on Monday (May 18, 2026), Mr. Kwatra said the passage of the Sustainable Use and Development of Nuclear Energy for Transforming India (SHANTI) Act has opened up opportunities for private sector collaboration in civil nuclear energy.

“I have to emphasize that one of the driving forces is the set of transformational journeys that are currently underway in India,” he told a conference attended by US lawmakers including Ro Khanna, Deborah Ross, Tim Moore and Senator Steve Daines.

Mr. Kwatra said that India and the US have set a target of increasing bilateral trade from around $220 billion annually to $500 billion by 2030.

He said defense and security cooperation is one of the fastest-growing pillars of the Indo-US partnership, and New Delhi is the largest user of some US platforms outside the US.

“Today, India is the largest user of several US platforms outside the US, but that is also covered by what we are able to do together at the operational level at the level of various commands in terms of addressing the common challenges we face in the defense and security space,” the envoy said.

“We are natural partners not because of geography or the compulsion of geography, but because of our shared values,” he said, referring to Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s 2023 address to the US Congress.

Mr. Kwatra said that each US administration over the past two decades has built on the achievements of its predecessor in strengthening ties with India. “If you look at the thread of the relationship over the previous decades and through successive administrations, you will find that each administration has tried, sought and successfully built on the achievements of the previous administration,” he said.

Published – 19 May 2026 12:40 PM IST