Overview of India-US Bilateral Relations and Defense Cooperation

Key Chapter Title List

1. High-Level Visits and Strategic Dialogues
2. Defense Cooperation Framework and Major Agreements
3. Military Exchanges and Joint Exercises
4. Trade and Investment Relations
5. Strategic Energy Partnership and Clean Energy Agenda
6. Key Technologies, Innovation, and Space Cooperation
7. Counterterrorism and Security Cooperation
8. Health Cooperation
9. Education, Culture, and People-to-People Ties
10. Influence of the Indian Diaspora
11. Key Entity List Changes
12. Record of Major Bilateral Visits, 2023-2024

Document Introduction

This report, based on the latest materials from the U.S. Congressional Research Service (CRS), systematically outlines the core architecture and key dynamics of the India-U.S. bilateral relationship from 2023 to early 2025. It positions the India-U.S. relationship as a "Comprehensive Global Strategic Partnership," driven by shared democratic values, converging interests on a wide range of issues, and vibrant people-to-people exchanges. The study focuses on the deep collaboration between the two countries across multiple strategic pillars including defense and security, economic and trade, science and technology, and global governance, aiming to provide policymakers and researchers with a professional assessment based on official data and records of high-level interactions.

The main structure of the report revolves around the pillar areas of the bilateral relationship. At the political and strategic level, high-level interactions are frequent and institutionalized, with the "2+2" Ministerial Dialogue, leader summits (such as Prime Minister Modi's visit to the U.S. in February 2025 launching the "U.S.-India 21st Century Compact"), and the National Security Advisor-level Initiative on Critical and Emerging Technology (iCET) forming the core engine for policy coordination. Defense cooperation is explicitly defined as a "Major Defense Partnership," encompassing a series of foundational agreements from the Logistics Exchange Memorandum of Agreement (LEMOA) to the Basic Exchange and Cooperation Agreement (BECA), and extending to the Defense Industrial Cooperation Roadmap, the INDUS-X innovation ecosystem, and major equipment acquisitions such as the MQ-9B drones. The scale and complexity of military exercises (e.g., "Malabar," "Yudh Abhyas") continue to increase, highlighting the deepening of operational interoperability.

The economic and technological dimension is an emerging growth pole for the partnership. Bilateral trade in goods and services reached $190 billion in 2023, with the U.S. being India's largest trading partner and a significant source of foreign investment. The "Mission 500" goal aims to surpass $500 billion in bilateral trade by 2030. In key technology areas, through initiatives like the "U.S.-India TRUST Initiative," the AI Infrastructure Roadmap, the Strategic Minerals Recycling Plan, and the Renewable Energy Technology Action Platform (RETAP), the two sides seek to build secure and resilient supply chains and jointly set technological standards. Civilian space cooperation is particularly prominent, with the NASA-ISRO Synthetic Aperture Radar (NISAR) project set for launch, and a human spaceflight cooperation framework initiated, including a joint International Space Station mission and astronaut training.

The report also details the institutionalized cooperation mechanisms between the two sides in non-traditional security areas such as counterterrorism, cybersecurity, narcotics control, and public health, including the Counterterrorism Joint Working Group, the Homeland Security Dialogue, and the Anti-Narcotics Working Group. Regarding people-to-people ties, the contributions of approximately 300,000 Indian students to the U.S. economy, the political and economic influence of the Indian-American community (including representation in Congress), and measures such as the repatriation of cultural property constitute the profound social foundation of the bilateral relationship. A noteworthy recent development is that in January 2025, the U.S. Bureau of Industry and Security removed three Indian nuclear-related entities, including Indian Rare Earths Limited and the Indira Gandhi Centre for Atomic Research, from the export control "Entity List," signifying a further elevation of strategic trust.

The analysis in this report is based entirely on official statements, signed agreements, data statistics, and high-level visit schedules documented in CRS files, without any extrapolation or speculation. It provides a detailed and authoritative primary source foundation for understanding the complexity, institutional network, and future trajectory of the current India-U.S. bilateral relationship. It is particularly suitable for professional purposes such as defense strategy analysis, international economic policy research, Indo-Pacific regional security assessment, and tracking the dynamics of technological competition.