“India's economic transformation since 2014 has been the anchor point of its expanding engagement with the U.S.,” Indian envoy to the U.S. Vinay Mohan Kwatra said in Washington.

Addressing the Capitol Hill Summit 2026 organised by the U.S.-India Friendship Council (USIFC) in Washington on Monday (May 18, 2026), Mr. Kwatra said the passage of the Sustainable Harnessing and Advancement of Nuclear Energy for Transforming India (SHANTI) Act has unlocked opportunities for private sector collaboration in the civil nuclear power domain.

"One of the drivers, I must point out, is a set of transformational journeys that are currently taking place in India," he said, addressing the conference that was attended by U.S. lawmakers, including Ro Khanna, Deborah Ross, Tim Moore and Senator Steve Daines.

Mr. Kwatra said India and the U.S. had set a target to increase bilateral trade from approximately $220 billion annually to $500 billion by 2030.

He said defence and security cooperation was one of the fastest-growing pillars of the India-U.S. partnership, and New Delhi was the largest user of some American platforms outside the U.S.

“Today, India is the largest user of a couple of American platforms outside the U.S. But this is also covered by what we are able to do together at an operational level at the level of various commands in terms of addressing the shared challenges that we face in the defence and security space,” the envoy said.

“We are natural partners not because of geography or compulsions of geography, but because of our shared values,” he said, citing Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s address to the U.S. Congress in 2023.

Mr. Kwatra said every U.S. administration over the past two decades had built upon the achievements of its predecessor in strengthening ties with India. “If you look at the thread of the relationship over the previous decades and through the successive administrations, you will find that each administration has tried, sought and successfully built on the achievements of the previous administration,” he said.