A challenging time for India-US relationship

The year 2013 will be remembered for the challenges it threw up for the ties between the world's two largest democracies, including a row triggered by the arrest and strip-search of an Indian diplomat in the US.

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh held a successful meeting with US President Barack Obama at the White House and Vice President Joe Biden made a rare trip to India, but the strain in bilateral relations was evident throughout 2013 especially over India's nuclear liability act.

Also, over 200 American lawmakers made an unprecedented move to vent their ire against India's economic policies.

However, the events of the year were capped by the arrest of senior diplomat Devyani Khobragade, the Deputy Consul General in New York, on visa fraud charges. While the US asserted that by arresting her, it was enforcing the law of the land, India fought back by taking a series of reciprocal measures like withdrawing special privileges of US Embassy personnel in New Delhi.

Following the arrest, one of the rare occasions when an Indian diplomat was detained overseas, the India-US ties came to a standstill. Even earlier, many experts had said that it has plateaued.

This was mainly because both the Congress and the influential American industry - the main drivers of India-US ties in the past decade - openly expressed their anger and anguish over India's economic policies.

Through a series of letters, more than 240 Congressmen and Senators and Corporate America sought Obama's help to address what they described as policy paralysis in India.

But when Prime Minister Singh held his highly successful meeting with Obama in September, which was preceded by India visits by Vice President Biden and Secretary of State John Kerry, it looked like the two countries were working together to address their differences and take steps to strengthen bilateral ties.