Working with a Rising India A Joint Venture for the New Century

"Call it an American consensus: India now matters to U.S. interests in virtually every dimension. India's economy is a fast-growing emerging market, increasingly important for international business, and Indian businesses have become investors in the United States. Geopolitically, India's growing military capabilities can help protect the sea lanes and deliver humanitarian assistance quickly throughout the South Asian region, and increasingly across the greater Indo-Pacific. India's longstanding stability anchors the volatile Indian Ocean region and helps ensure that no single power dominates the Asia Pacific, leading to a stable balance of power. India's sheer scale means that complex global challenges, such as climate change, cybersecurity, and health, cannot be solved without it. Additionally, India's diverse, plural democracy stands out in a world in which authoritarianism poses new threats to the interests of the United States and its allies. Today, India has a window of opportunity for significant change. There are two Indias, one that appears poised for global success, and one that continues to struggle with weighty economic, social, and developmental challenges. Both exist at the same time -- but against the backdrop of slowing global growth, India has a greater chance to stand out. With Prime Minister Narendra Modi elected to office on a campaign focused on job creation and economic growth rather than the welfarism of the past, India may at last be able to translate its long-heralded power potential into reality. In light of this potential for change in India, and with the 2016 presidential election gearing up in the United States, the Council on Foreign Relations (CFR) sponsored an Independent Task Force on U.S.-India relations to examine developments in India and weigh those against U.S. foreign policy ... The Task Force considered India's current political and economic preoccupations and its ambitions for the next decade, reflected on how those mapped onto U.S. national interests, and developed a slate of findings and recommendations for the United States (and to a limited extent, India) to consider"--Executive summary.