


Agenda
The Forum is closed-door and held under the Chatham House rules.
Badge Collection (The Forum is an invite-only gathering. Badges will be mandatory for entry. They will only be prepared for participants invited and confirmed in advance.)
Reception and Dinner
Welcome Remarks
Rajan Navani, Chairman, Ananta Centre; Chairman, Managing Director & CEO, JetSynthesys
1. Inaugural
S Jaishankar, Minister of External Affairs, Government of India In conversation with Indrani Bagchi, CEO, Ananta Centre
Badge Collection
2. Keynote Address
Vikram Misri, Foreign Secretary of India, Government of India; Co chair, India - US Forum
- Keynote Address
Vikram Misri, Foreign Secretary, Government of India; Co-Chair, India - US Forum
3. Plenary Session
China’s Challenge: Taking on the Dragon
Tapping India’s data advantage to counter balance China’s AI 2.0 strategy. Techno-security arms race: how can India-US build quantum resistant cryptography; can China’s quantum leaps be outpaced? Chinese capture of global AI talent. The Chinese integrated digital ecosystem, progress of the Digital Yuan and future of central bank digital currencies. Can India and the US tackle irregular data privacy laws, classification frameworks and gaps in infrastructure blocking joint ventures in blockchain? China’s massive state investment in semiconductor self-reliance and renewable energy infrastructure.
● Daniel Rosen, Co-Founder, Rhodium Group
● Richard McGregor, Senior Fellow for East Asia, Lowy Institute
● Joe Wang, Vice President, SCSP
Moderator: Pramit Pal Chaudhuri, South Asia Practice Head, Eurasia Group
4. Plenary Session
Advanced Domains: Where Defence Dares to Tread
In Conversation with:
● Doug Beck, Director, Defence Innovation Unit, US Department of Defence
● Vrinda Kapoor, Co-Founder and CEO, 3rdiTech
● Vivek Lall, Chief Executive, General Atomics Global Corporation
● Michael Sulmeyer, Director, Belfer Center’s Cyber Security Project, Harvard Kennedy School; Former Assistant Secretary of Defense
● Rajesh Pant, Former National Cybersecurity Coordinator
● Shailender Arya, International Engagements, Ministry of Defence
● Sarjan Shah, MD-India, Shield AI
Moderator: Sameer Lalwani, Non-Resident Senior Fellow, Centre for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments
5. Plenary Session
Critical Minerals: MineKraft and ResourcePolitik
Beyond procurement resilience, enabling investment in R&D of alternate chemistries. Access to polymetallic nodules and the balance of maintaining marine ecosystems. A cohesive policy framework that ties together mining, processing and innovation. Collaboration in developing infrastructure for extraction, processing and recycling capabilities. MSP and short term supply chain security: Chinese rare earth dominance, increasing domestic reserves, building dependable supply from unstable regions (e.g. DRC), tackling permit delays and regulatory bottlenecks.
● V L Kantha Rao, Secretary of Mines, Government of India
● Arunabha Ghosh, CEO, CEEW
Moderator: Mahnaz Khan, Vice President, Silverado Policy Accelerator
6. Fireside Chat
S Krishnan, Secretary, MEITY, Government of India
And
Jennifer Bachus, Acting Head of Bureau, Bureau of Cyberspace & Digital Policy, US Department of State
In conversation with Amlan Mohanty, Non-Resident Research Fellow, Carnegie India
7. Fireside Chat
Piyush Goyal, Minister of Commerce and Industry, India
In conversation with Chandrajit Banerjee, Director General, Confederation of Indian Industry
Lunch
8. Plenary Session
Artificial Intelligence: Rulebooks and Playbooks
AI Governance and defining tech sovereignty. Export controls for AI infrastructure. Foundational models to applied AI.
● Abhishek Singh, Additional Secretary, MEITY
● Sandeep Aurora, Group Director & Head of Public Policy & Government Affairs, Microsoft India & South Asia
● Hemant Mohapatra, Venture Capital Partner, Lightspeed Ventures
● Sunil Gupta, Co-Founder, MD & CEO, Yotta Data Services
● Behnaz Kibria, Director, Government Affairs and Public Policy, Cloud Product Initiatives, Google
● Becky Fraser, Vice President, Global Government Affairs, Qualcomm
● Saurabh Singh, Head, Digital Policy, India and South Asia, Amazon Web Services
Moderator: Amlan Mohanty, Non-Resident Research Fellow, Carnegie India
9. Live Feed: Special Address by
JD Vance, Vice President of the United States
10. Plenary Session
Innovate Inc: Investment and Design in new ecosystems
● John Lenhart, Vice President, Global Government Affairs, Walmart
● Arvind Chandrasekar, Director of Regulatory Affairs, AMD
● Tarundeep Singh, General Manager, Nike India
● Sujai Shivakumar, Director and Senior Fellow, Renewing American Innovation, CSIS
● Dhritiman Biswas, Senior Director, Government Affairs - South Asia, Cargill
Moderator: Ashok Malik, Partner and Chair of India Practice, The Asia Group
11. Fireside Chat
Large Language Militaries: Future of Defence-Tech Partnership
Ylli Bajraktari, President and CEO, SCSP
In conversation with Tarun Chhabra, Garnaut Global; Former Senior Director for Technology and National Security, NSC
Tea/Coffee
12. Plenary Session
Nuclear Energy: Small, Modular is Beautiful
The prospect of foreign investment in India with the revised liability laws. Can India develop SMRs indigenously? How can PFBRs be scaled? Going beyond the prototype stage. Utilizing India’s thorium reserves.
● Arunabha Ghosh, CEO, CEEW
● Amit Sharma, MD & CEO, Tata Consulting Engineers
● Ravi Grover, Chairman, Board of Research in Nuclear Sciences, and Member, Atomic Energy Commission.
● JP Gupta, Senior Advisor, Holtec
Moderator: Venkatesh Varma, Former Ambassador to Conference on Disarmament (CD); Member of the Indian Negotiation Team for the India-US Civil Nuclear Deal
13. Plenary Session
NewSpace, Old Politics
● Suyash Singh, Co-Founder & CEO, Galaxeye
● Anirudh Sharma, CEO, Digantara
Moderator: Vinayak Dalmia, Co-Founder, 3rditech
Reception and Dinner
14. Plenary Session
Market to Maker: India’s $500 Billion Electronics Ambition
● Sushil Pal, Joint Secretary, MEITY, Government of India
● Josh Foulger, President of Electronics, Zetwerk
● Chantal Lakatos, MD, Government Affairs, Lam Research
● Pankaj Mohindroo, Chairman of the India Cellular & Electronics Association (ICEA)
● Mukesh Aghi, President & CEO, USISPF
● Ishtiyaque Ahmed, Programme Director- Industry/MSME, NITI Aayog
Moderator: Virat Bhatia, MD, Apple - India
15. Fireside Chat
Ashwini Vaishnaw, Minister for Railways, Information & Broadcasting, Electronics & Information Technology, Government of India
In Conversation with Virat Bhatia, MD, Apple - India
16. Plenary Session
Undersea Cables: Safe, Secure, Submerged
Joint Monitoring and Surveillance: collaboration with allies and stakeholders in cable protection efforts. How can investment increase in building redundant paths and backup routes? Public-private investment in co-innovation of next generation cables with advanced materials and quantum encryption. Rapid response mechanism and advanced encryption to protect against data interception, malware, and denial-of-service attacks. Robust global tracking mechanisms for real time threat detection.
● Jennifer Bachus, Acting Head of Bureau, Bureau of Cyberspace & Digital Policy, US Department of State
● N Sivasamban, COO, Tata Communications
● Sharat Sinha, CEO, Airtel Business
● Nico Roehrich, Director-Network Investments, Meta
● Benji Robinson, Director Global Network Acquisition, Google
● Nikunj Parashar, Founder & MD, Sagar Defence Engineering
Moderator: Monty Khanna, Adjunct Faculty, Naval War College
17. Plenary Session
Future of Work: Migration and Mobility
US: What is the future of H1-B visas? Navigating the US domestic debate on foreign workers. India: Reverse brain drain? Capturing the returning high skilled talent. What percentage of India's GDP can be expected from simply incubating talent?
● Ashish Dhawan, Founding Chairperson, Ashoka University
● Manish Sabharwal, Vice Chairman, Teamlease
● Atman Trivedi, Partner, South Asia, Albright Stonebridge Group, DGA
Moderator: Priya Mohan, Partner, General Catalyst
18. Plenary Session
Connectivity: From Quad to IMEC
● R. Lakshamanan, Joint Secretary, Ministry of Ports, Shipping and Waterways
● Rizwan Soomar, CEO & MD, DP World
● Sanjay Jasjit Singh, Flag Officer Commanding-in-Chief, Western Naval Command, Indian Navy
● Christopher B. Johnstone, Partner and Chair of the Defense and National Security Practice, The Asia Group
● Gabriel Noronha, Executive Director, Polaris National Security
Moderator: Tanvi Madan, Senior Fellow, Brookings
Lunch
19. Plenary Session
Health & Wellness: Live Long and Prosper
● Prashanth Prakash, Founding Partner, Accel
● AJ Venkatakrishnan, Senior Vice President, AI Partnerships, nference
● William Bissell, MD, Fabindia and Director, Organic India
Moderator: Rajan Navani, Chairman, Ananta Centre; Chairman and MD of Jetline Group of Companies
20. Plenary Session
Geopolitical Flux: Converging interests in an uncertain world
Similar Indian and American national priorities: Re-balancing power equations how to synergize the complementarities
● Ram Madhav, Former National General Secretary, Bharatiya Janata Party
● Asha Jadeja Motwani, Founder, Motwani Jadeja Foundation
● C. Raja Mohan, Visiting Research Professor, Institute of South Asian Studies, National University of Singapore; Contributing Editor, India’s World Magazine
● James Baker, Strategist
Moderator: Taranjit Singh Sandhu, Former Ambassador of India to the US
Tea/Coffee
21. Fireside Chat
Pavan Kapoor, Deputy National Security Advisor, Government of India
In conversation with Arun K Singh, Former Ambassador of India to the US
22. Plenary Session
Digital Infra: e before Everything
● Arvind Gupta, Co-Founder, Digital India Foundation
● TK Kurien, CEO, Premji Invest
● Rudra Chaudhuri, Director, Carnegie India
● Archna Vyas, Director, Gates Foundation
Moderator: Pramit Pal Chaudhuri, India Practice Head, Eurasia Group
23. Plenary Session
India-US Security: In Defence we TRUST
India's strategic defence outlook: future threat assessment and the partnerships India needs to cultivate. What are the 5 roadblocks towards co-production? Looking for newer horizons in co-development. Which fighter aircraft does India need from the US
● Andrew Byers, Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense, South and Southeast Asia
● Vishwesh Negi, Joint Secretary-International Cooperation, Ministry of Defence
● William Blair, Vice President & Regional Chief Executive, Asia and India, Lockheed Martin Global
● Sukaran Singh, CEO & DEO, Tata Advanced Systems Limited
● Christopher Kirchhoff, Founder of DIU; Author of Unit X
● Siddhant Dayal, Public Sector, Palantir Technologies
Moderator: Dan Twining, President, International Republican Institute
24. Fireside Chat
Ricky Gill, Special Assistant to the President and Senior Director for South and Central Asian Affairs, National Security Council
and
Nagaraj Naidu, Additional Secretary, Americas Division, Ministry of External Affairs, Government of India
in conversation with Indrani Bagchi, CEO, Ananta Centre
Vote of Thanks
Indrani Bagchi, CEO, Ananta Centre
Delegates
India-US Forum 2024 Reports
Glimpses 2025
About The Event
The India-US Forum is a platform for Indian and American leaders to shape the future of India-US strategic partnership through dialogue and collaboration. It is annually convened by the Ananta Centre and Ministry of External Affairs, Government of India.
The Forum is held under the Chatham House Rule and participation is by invitation only. The attendees are high level representatives from government, Congress/Parliament, industry, media, academia and think tanks. Over its 6 editions, the Forum has emerged as a coveted space to exchange ideas and set the bilateral agenda for cooperation.


