India, US have growing strategic convergence, says Rajnath Singh amid differences over Ukraine war

India and the United States have a growing convergence of strategic interests, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh said on Thursday, notwithstanding differences between the two nations over the Russia-Ukraine conflict.

Singh said that both India and the United States were in favour of a resilient and rules-based international order that would safeguard the sovereignty and territorial integrity of all countries. He was speaking at an event held by the American Chamber of Commerce in India.

He asked US companies to partner with entities in India to carry out joint research and co-development of military hardware in India. He stressed that India-US defence relations should move beyond the traditional buyer-seller relationship.

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Singh and External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar on April 11 last had a 2+2 dialogue with their counterparts Lloyd Austin and Antony Blinken in Washington. The 2+2 dialogue was preceded by a virtual meeting between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and US President Joe Biden. Jaishankar and Singh also had separate bilateral meetings with Blinken and Austin respectively. The high-level virtual and in-person engagements were aimed at minimising the impact of differences over Russia-Ukraine conflict on the overall relations between the two nations.

The defence minister said on Thursday that the recent India-US ‘2+2’ dialogue and fruitful conversation between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and President Joe Biden had created the ground for a more ambitious and strategic engagement between the two sides.

“Of late, some US companies have expanded their local presence in partnership with Indian industry to achieve our aim of ‘Make in India, Make for the World’. We believe this is just a beginning,” Singh said on Thursday.

“With increasing business, we aspire for increased investments by US companies in India. Making full use of the Industrial Security Agreement, we need to facilitate collaboration and indigenisation of defence technology and boost the participation of US and Indian companies in each other’s defence supply chains,” added the Defence Minister.

India avoided toeing the US line and refrained from criticising Russia for its invasion of Ukraine – primarily due to its decades-old strategic partnership with and its dependence on the country for military hardware.

India expanded its defence relations with the United States after the landmark civil nuclear agreement of 2008. The US in 2016 designated India as a Major Defence Partner, but it will still take decades before the US can actually replace Russia as the primary source of defence equipment for India.

Singh said that US companies were welcome to establish manufacturing facilities in India and exhorted them to take advantage of the policy initiatives of the government to promote defence manufacturing.

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