US Secretary of State John Kerry with US Ambassador to India, Richard Verma at New Delhi airport.
Highlights
- John Kerry will focus on plans to hike trade between the US and India
- He will meet with PM Modi and take part in a "strategic dialogue"
- PM, Barack Obama launched "strategic and commercial dialogue" in 2015
US Secretary of State John Kerry's arrival in India wasn't a dream landing - he was stuck for an hour in the traffic jams that paralysed the capital after heavy rain last evening.
Over the next two days, Mr Kerry will focus on ambitious plans to hike trade between the world's two largest democracies five-fold to around $500 billion.
He will meet with Prime Minister Narendra Modi and take part in a "strategic dialogue" between the two nations.
US President Barack Obama and PM Modi launched the "strategic and commercial dialogue" in 2015 in efforts to deepen security and economic cooperation.
US Commerce Secretary Penny Pritzker, who will take part in this week's talks, has said the idea of increasing trade from $100 billion to $500 billion was ambitious.
A US State Department senior official said India needed to further reform its economy if the two nations were to achieve their goal.
"Clearly for two-way trade to reach that level, much needs to happen in terms of trade and economic reforms, and we have seen some movement in that direction," the official said ahead of Mr Kerry's visit.