Bhoomi Kansal writes that India is a developing country with fifth largest economy in the world and is the most populous country with demographic profile of youth being about 254 million but still there lies potential for economic development, human welfare, technology innovation etc. On the other hand, USA tensions with China can make India as an alternative for supply chains, technology hub and other joint ventures. China’s aggression over the Indo-pacific has made USA to pull India to its side to reduce the impacts of Ukraine war that the global world has to bear and to be undependable over China. USA is following the policy of friend-shoring and wants India to be its one of the economic ally.[i]
TECH PARTNERS
The growing partnership between India and USA has the potential to transform the world of technology and geopolitics which has already begun with the signing of iCET( US-India initiative on critical and emerging technologies ). This is led by National Security Council (NSC) in united states and National Security Council Secretariat (NSCS) in India. It was signed in 2022 but formally launched by the national security advisors in January 2023. This structure will include deals of immense interest for both the nations like setting up of taskforce for creating ‘complimentary semiconductor ecosystem’, exchange of technology and capitals, development of AI, quantum hubs and a lot more. This deal seeks to intensify the economic , technological, and strategic ties between the two powers.[ii] The two countries have also agreed upon developing next generation telecommunication in India including 5G and 6G advanced telephone technologies. United States and New Delhi also agreed to enhance cooperation in space, including helping India develop astronauts, its commercial space sector.
DEFENCE
With the visit of U.S.A defence secretary Llyod Austin in the first week of June, both the defence ministers have talked and strengthened the defence bilateral relations between the two nations. They discussed about military capacity building, strategic infrastructure and logistics, defence technologies. There have been talks going on to link Indian public firm HAL (Hindustan aeronautics limited ) and American firm GE (General Electric) to co-produce indigenous jets aircrafts . Both the sides introduced India -US defence acceleration ecosystem (INDUS-X) to advance cutting edge technology cooperation. It is going to facilitate joint innovation on defense technologies and accelerate the integration of India’s budding private sector defense industry with the US defense sector. India also asked US to provide MRO ( maintenance repair overhaul) facilities to be set-up in India for US imported machinery and equipments.[iii] India is also looking to buy 18 high-altitude, long-endurance armed drones from General Atomics Aeronautical Systems Inc for an estimated $1.5bn to $2bn which will b deployed along its border with Pakistan and China.
WAY AHEAD
Amid this growing technology competition, where US is the leader, India play a key role as an innovation powerhouse. The united states leads in producing enough ph.ds in science and engineering whereas India is forward with bachelor’s degrees In 2021, the number of Indian unicorns—start-ups valued at more than $1 billion—increased from 40 to 108. In domains such as the commercial space sector, India is playing a big role . India can surely prove to be a potential partner for US in the field of innovation , research and development and defense. It is a win-win situation for both the democracies in several fronts of geopolitics, economic and political. US-India strategic partnership can be a positive deal in this technology-driven world.[iv]
BY BHOOMI KANSAL
[i] Hemant Taneja, Fareed Zakaira, “the us-India relationship is key to the future of tech” Harvard business review, April 17, 2023 https://hbr.org/2023/04/the-u-s-india-relationship-is-key-to-the-future-of-tech last accessed on June 24, 2023
[ii] Konark Bhandari, Arun Singh, Rudra Chaudhuri,” India and the united states good bet: one year of us-India initiative on critical and emerging technology(icet)” Carnegie India, June 12, 2023 https://carnegieindia.org/2023/06/12/india-and-united-states-good-bet-one-year-of-u.s.-india-initiative-on-critical-and-emerging-technology-icet-pub-89926 last accessed on June 24, 2023
[iii] Amrita Nayak Dutta,”India to US: Ease defense sale norms, transfer of technology” the Indian express, June 6,2023
https://indianexpress.com/article/india/remove-hurdles-in-defence-sales-tech-transfer-india-to-us-8647387/ last accessed on June 24, 2023
[iv] Samir saran, “India and the U.S. Can Together Make Tech More Accessible to All” foreign policy, June 16, 2023
https://foreignpolicy.com/2023/06/16/india-us-biden-modi-tech-partnership-strategy/ last accessed on June 24, 2023
Authored by: Bhoomi Kansal, Research Intern, USI
Very thoroughly researched and written with detailed explanations. Great work Bhoomi Kansal
Wonderful and strategic analysis of Indo US ties.
It is carefully drafted blog. Many congratulations to Bhumi.