What to expect from US president Barack Obama's visit

For the Narendra Modi Government, it was a diplomatic coup to get the US President Barack Obama as chief guest for the Republic Day function. This would also make Obama the only US President to visit India twice during his terms. Well, that says a lot about how India-US relations have moved forward, yet divisive issues remain. Here are a few on which the US will be looking for some progress

NUCLEAR POWER PLANTS & LIABILITY LAW

Washington wants forward movement on Nuclear Liability Law that would enable GE and Westinghouse to enter Indian market and make the civil nuclear deal of 2008 operational. India too is keen to break the logjam and is working on a model that will have a pool of insurance companies giving guarantees to reactor suppliers besides diluting the provision in the law that makes the supplier liable in case of an accident. A similar arrangement was also reached with the Russian side whose nuclear fi rms are, however, state-run. GoI thinks such an arrangement will also encourage Indian private players to get into manufacturing reactors

ENERGY

India keen to see forward movement on shale-gas supplies & import of LNG from the US to meet growing energy needs

DEFENCE

Watch out for an announcement or a commitment on further raising FDI cap in defence. Discussions on joint production and co-development of defence items are also on the agenda. The 10- year bilateral defence partnership is also likely to be renewed in this trip

INVESTMENT

India will reassure US on easing the process to do businesses in India, especially in high priority sectors like smart cities and railways. Forward movement is expected on Intellectual Property Rights regimes of both countries during this trip. Obama will interact with the India-US CEOs during this visit.

CLIMATE DEAL

USA was keen to conclude a China-type deal with India during the visit. However, this has been ruled out by New Delhi who argues that its emissions are not even a fraction of what China does, and hence are not comparable. The two sides may agree on a document that would empahise on use of clean energy technology by India. This would open up commercial opportunities for US as well.

COUNTER-TERROR & AF-PAK

More counter-terror cooperation with emphasis on ISIS and Af-Pak terror groups. India would like to hear from US about situation in Pak and Islamabad’s effort to control terror in the backdrop US-Pak strategic dialogue in this month.

ASIA-PACIFIC

Modi and Obama had devoted considerable time during the former’s visit to the US last September on stabilising Asia-Pacific. The plan envisages a larger Indian role to balance Beijing’s ambitions in the region.