Joe Biden’s inauguration paves the way for a new, friendlier chapter in Indo-US relations
A belligerent Donald Trump took his final bow from the White House, leaving the stage wide open in the world’s oldest democracy for President Joe Biden and his Administration to take the centre stage. Global leaders, and the world at large, expectantly witnessed the inauguration of Biden and his Vice-President, the Indian-origin Kamala Harris who has made history by becoming America’s first woman Vice-President, at the Capitol Hill early on Thursday. With Biden taking oath as the 46th President of the United States (US), the theme is now centred around “America United”. Immediately after taking over, Biden overturned several of the controversial decisions taken by his predecessor and started working as per his own agenda. The President has already signed an executive order that will eventually provide relief and citizenship to migrants who have no legal documents: Of the 1.1 crore such population, there would be five lakh Indian beneficiaries. Biden also revoked the decision to ban citizens from seven Muslim-majority countries which had been clamped by Trump in 2017. The country being the largest economy, it goes without saying, its possible policy changes under a new President matter to all nations, and are keenly being looked forward to. Policy watchers have been waiting for President Biden to spell out the broad contours of the US policy on globalisation and international relations, especially with regard to India and China, emerging economies, besides an economic stimulus in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. Most expect a return to the pre-Trump era with the US playing a more active role in world dynamics. In the initial hours after taking over, of course, the Biden Administration has given an encouraging preview of what’s likely to come. His top officials, such as Secretary of State nominee Anthony Blinken recently said that India had been a “bipartisan success story” of successive administrations, and Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin has also been batting for stronger Indo-US ties. Biden himself is a vocal proponent of friendly ties with India and has been a familiar face in New Delhi since his days as the Vice-President under Barack Obama.
The US and India see each other as key strategic partners and analysts expect the Indo-US relations to grow closer and become less strained. With the coalition against China likely to persist, America’s ties with India and other Pacific nations, including Japan and Australia, may experience a further boost. The major policy changes India is hoping for are in terms of software exports, H1 visa policy, minimum compensation for engineers (via which Trump tried discouraging hiring Indian IT professionals). Bilateral trade between the two countries was at $88.75 billion in 2019-20. In 2019, the US was the largest goods export market (17% share) for India and, in terms of goods import supplier, it was the third largest. In April-September 2020, the US was the second biggest source of FDI for India. It’s likely that higher portfolio investments influenced by federal rates will flow into India. Now, Biden might not have a street-smart approach towards the other economic superpower — either by putting pressure on it to scrap the China-2025 plan, or initiating a trade war — but he might show a pragmatic attitude. With India focusing on becoming a manufacturing hub, there might be a rise in US funding influx and India would hopefully become the alternative choice.
