Retired diplomat Vinay Kwatra nominated as new US ambassador to secure ties

By Sudhi Ranjan Sen

India has nominated retired diplomat Vinay Kwatra as its next ambassador to the US, months before the country heads to a pivotal election, according to people familiar with the matter.

Kwatra, who retired as India’s foreign secretary earlier this month, will look to bring certainty to the India-US relationship as countries brace for a possible change in administration after November’s US elections. An immediate priority of Kwatra’s will be to reach out to officials who could play an important role in India-related policy in the next administration, the people said, asking not to be identified because the discussions are private.

India and the US have been growing closer for the past two decades, including under the previous Trump and current Biden administration. Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and former president Donald Trump shared a good rapport and held a joint rally in the US in 2019. 

Kwatra, a career diplomat, has previously served in China, the US, in Modi’s office and as India’s envoy to France before his tenure as the top bureaucrat in the foreign ministry. The position of India’s ambassador to the US has been vacant since Taranjit Singh Sandhu completed his tenure in January.

India’s Ministry of External Affairs didn’t comment when asked about the appointment. An announcement is expected soon after formalities in the US are complete, the people said.

India-US ties have strengthened under Modi, with India seeing the US as a partner in standing up to a more assertive China. At the same time, India has pursued a foreign policy much in line with its decades-old stance of not aligning too closely with any great power. India has, for example, maintained its long-standing ties with Russia despite its invasion of Ukraine, with Modi visiting Moscow earlier this month. 

The US meanwhile sees India as a key bulwark in Asia to an increasingly powerful China, but the relationship has at times appeared to frustrate Washington. It has chastised India over alleged human rights violations and treatment of minorities and the relationship has been rocked by recent allegations that New Delhi tried to assassinate a US citizen for advocating a separate homeland in India for the country’ Sikh minority. 

Despite that, the US—India relationship has a strong business and geopolitical logic behind it but needs constant nurturing especially with any new administration, the people familiar said. 

New Delhi is hoping to make rapid progress under a critical and emerging technology sharing initiative which includes the manufacturing of jet engines and semi-conductors in India.