Published by: Vivek Dubey
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and US President Joe Biden met in Washington to announce agreements to strengthen economic and diplomatic ties.
The agreements highlight new private sector investments between the two countries. The following is a roundup of the major announcements:
The US will allow some H-1B visa renewals without traveling abroad and open new consulates in Bengaluru and Ahmedabad. India will open a new consulate in Seattle and announce two more in the US.
Micron Technology will invest up to $825 million in a new chip assembly and test plant in Gujarat. Applied Materials will invest $400 million over four years in a new engineering centre in India.
The US and India have agreed to terminate six outstanding disputes at the World Trade Organisation. India will remove retaliatory tariffs on US products, including chickpeas and apples.
India joined the US-led Minerals Security Partnership (MSP) to create critical energy minerals supply chains. Epsilon Carbon will invest $650 million in a greenfield EV battery component factory in India.
VSK Energy LLC will invest up to $1.5 billion in the US solar energy supply chain, starting with a factory in Colorado. This will aid the US push to compete with China in clean energy manufacturing.
GE’s aerospace unit signed an agreement with Hindustan Aeronautics to make fighter jet engines for the Indian Air Force, including potential joint production of F414 engines in India.
India’s defence ministry approved the procurement of 31 MQ-9B SeaGuardian drones worth over $3 billion from General Atomics. The drones will be assembled in India and General Atomics will establish a new facility there.
India agreed to join the US-led Artemis Accords on space exploration and to work with NASA on a joint mission to the International Space Station in 2024.
India and US established a Joint Indo-US Quantum Coordination Mechanism to facilitate joint research between the public and private sectors across both countries.