This report argues that President Biden may be more predictable and less transactional than Trump, but the world order has witnessed a significant change. Moreover, while the new US president has made working with allies and multilateralism a priority, his primary challenges are domestic.

This paper argues that foreign policy is high on the agenda for the United States and the world will be watching the Biden Administration’s approach to crucial issues, New Delhi being no exception. While there could be differences over some issues, the relationship is likely to grow and unlikely to be uni-layered.

India cannot afford to adopt a simplistic approach to foreign policy issues and must realise that absolute convergence is impossible with any country. It is important to realise that ties between India and the US are driven by mutual economic and strategic interests and the prevailing geopolitical situation, rather than the personal chemistry between leaders.

This paper argues that it is important that India tries to bring ties with some of its neighbours in South Asia back on track. There can be no one way of dealing with China; a multi-layered approach is needed to deal with Beijing.

In a post-Covid-19 world, the India-US relationship is likely to be important, not just in the context of South Asia, but also for the Indo-Pacific region as well as globally. In recent months, Washington and Delhi have signalled that they will strengthen defence co-operation.