Obama committed to intensifying India-US relations:White House

The Defense Secretary recent India visit is a change to deepen security ties, besides economic opportunity, a spokesperson said

US President Barack Obama is committed to further intensifying relationship with India and the recent visit of a top American defence official is reflective of the depth of the ties, the White House has said.

"The President, as he discussed on his trip to India back in January, is committed to further intensifying the relations between our two countries," White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest said at a news conference.

Referring to the recently concluded visit of Defense Secretary Ashton Carter, he said this is reflective of the depth of the relationship between the US and India.

"So many of the issues that we often talk about are related to how we can expand economic opportunity in both of our countries," he said.

"There's also an opportunity for us to deepen our security cooperation, and that was the subject of some discussion when Secretary Carter was in India earlier this week," Earnest said.

Carter's trip, he said, is a pretty clear indication of the national security priority that the President has placed on enhancing the security cooperation between the US and India.

He also noted that US Ambassador to India Richard Verma has strengthened relations between the two countries in a short period of time.

"He's been a very effective advocate for the American people over in India, and I think having an Indian-American serving in that role I think has also sent a pretty powerful message to the Indian people about the deep cultural ties between our people," he said.

"Ambassador Verma, over a short period of time, has proven to be an extraordinarily effective advocate for the US and India, and we look forward to his continued good work," Earnest said.