India hopes to conclude trade pact with US this year, Nirmala Sitharaman says

New Delhi: India hopes to "positively conclude" the first part of a trade pact with the United States by this autumn, finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman said on Monday as she started on a trip packed with engagements between the two nations.

"The long and short of engaging with the US is not just for this reciprocal tariff related matter, but in the interest of... our largest trading partner with whom we need to have an agreement," Sitharaman said in an address to the Indian diaspora in San Francisco.

Sitharaman is on a five-day trip to the United States, where she will join the spring meetings of the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank, and the meeting of G20 finance ministers and central bank governors, according to an Indian government statement.

She is also scheduled to meet the US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and is expected to speak to officials at the United States Trade Representative's office.

Her visit comes in a week of multiple engagements between the United States and India that will focus on trade, as New Delhi rushes to avoid steep US tariffs with an early trade deal and boost ties with the Donald Trump administration.

Officials in New Delhi are hoping to firm up an agreement with Washington within the 90-day pause on tariff increases announced by Trump on April 9 for major trading partners, including India.

India's chief negotiator for the deal, Rajesh Agrawal, is expected to make a three-day trip to the United States starting Wednesday, an Indian official said.

U.S. Vice President JD Vance also began a four-day visit to India on Monday and will hold talks with Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Modi and Vance are expected to review progress made on the bilateral agenda outlined in February when the Indian leader met President Donald Trump in Washington.

India is open to cutting tariffs on more than half of its imports from the US, which were worth a total $41.8 billion in 2024, as part of a trade deal, Reuters has reported.

The US is India's largest trading partner and their two-way bilateral trade reached $129 billion in 2024, with a $45.7 billion surplus in favour of India, US government trade data show.