‘Relations with the United States have improved.’
By Raif Karerat
WASHINGTON, DC: As Prime Minister Narendra Modi arrives in Washington, DC, for his third U.S. visit — and second to this city — on March 31st, The American Bazaar asked three India experts to analyze the premier’s overall performance and also whether they have seen any qualitative difference in US-India relations under his government, since May, 2014 . We asked all the three the same questions.
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Here are the answers from Nish Acharya, a Senior Fellow at the Center for American Progress:
How would you rate Prime Minister Modi’s performance thus far?
Overall I think I would give him a B-plus. I think he’s done a lot to instill confidence in lots of different segments of society, whether it’s geopolitical, business, etcetera, so I think having a majority government and having a strong leader who is assertive … is a very good thing.
I think he hasn’t been able to move on the big investment opportunities and the big reforms that he needed to make. Some of the programs he’s announced have yet to really be rolled out … so I think he’s moved in the right direction but slower than he should have.
Have you seen any qualitative improvements in U.S.-India relations since Modi came to power?
Yeah, lots. I think there’s two different things to look at, and one is the quality of the relationship. For better or for worse the BJP [Bharatiya Janata Party] has always had closer ties to the United States than the Congress Party [Indian National Congress] has. By personal ties I mean not sitting on a panel at think tanks but really knowing people and spending time. Modi used to visit the United States quite a bit when he was at the state legislature level, Arun Jaitley, likewise, [and] Jayant Sinha used to live in Boston for 25 years before he moved back to India to be Minister of State [for Finance], so these folks have real deep ties at the personal level and I think they’re leveraging that in Washington.
First they built a level of trust with the Obama administration and [the United States] Congress that had been lost with the last prime minister even though Manmohan Singh was widely respected and liked. The level of trust in his ability to get things done was at a loss, and I think the Modi team has built that back up. You can really see a change in the relationship; Americans feel like they have a partner in Modi and his government that they can work with. I think the pivot toward supporting U.S. geostrategic goals a little bit more has been clearer too, such as coming out much more strongly pro-Israel, coming out much more strongly pro-Japan … even if it hasn’t meant as much actual spending in that direction I think coming out and pivoting that way aligns [India] much more closely with the United States, so that’s been very positive from the U.S. perspective.
Big Business is obviously very excited about India. It’s the fastest growing of the large economies, it has strong growth in the knowledge economy — tech, life sciences, etcetera — so from an American business perspective, it’s a much more exciting place than Europe or China, which has slowed down.
In your opinion, what are the most pressing issues on the bilateral front?
We’re still seeing that the nuclear deal is not complete and that requires work on the Indian side. I’m hoping if Obama and Modi meet this week the civilian liabilities and some of the remaining worries in terms of Indian legislation get resolved. That’s the first item that is a lingering issue, and then I think India’s ability to show that it can actually get the ball rolling after this nuclear safety summit and all that is done. Specifically, when will we see shovels in the ground to start on a nuclear plant?
I think if you ask most American policymakers what they’re thinking about right now, it’s whether Modi can get his reform agenda through India — that’s what people would like to see more than anything, and that would really boost American investment. I think all things being equal people would like to see him back home getting the GST [Goods and Services Tax] bill passed as well as putting more focus on manufacturing, energy, and results.
(Nish Acharya is the author of the upcoming book The India-U.S. Partnership: $1 Trillion by 2030. Acharya, who served the Obama and Clinton administrations, is also a principal at Equal Innovation, LLC, a strategy consulting and investment group working with universities, governments, foundations, and companies to assist them with innovation, entrepreneurship, and globalization strategies. He serves as a member of the Council on Foreign Relations, the Bretton Woods Committee, The Indus Entrepreneurs, and the Clinton Global Initiative.)