India-U.S. Technology Ties: Charting an Ambitious Course for the Future

Introduction To many who come to know India for the first time, the country can appear to be a sea of contradictions. Even as its aspirational and middle classes embrace digital and emerging technologies in their daily lives and their workplaces, it must bring with it the millions who constitute the poorest 10 percent. Similarly, even as New Delhi’s rhetoric leans into aatmanirbharta (self-sufficiency), it is turning outward to offer its technologies, innovations, and talent to the world. It is because of these contradictions, and not despite them, that India’s technology partnership with the United States (US) has gone from strength to strength in the past decade, even as points of contention remain. In May 2022, on the sidelines of the Quad Leaders’ Summit in Tokyo, US President Joe Biden and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced the United States–India Initiative on Critical and Emerging Technologies (iCET), “spearheaded by the National Security Councils of the two countries to expand partnership in critical and emerging technologies.” [1] This partnership is the culmination of a decade-long effort to position India not just as a receiver of technologies but as an emerging technology power in its own right.