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The India-US Forum

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, and academia

Over its 8 editions so far, the Forum has emerged as a coveted space to exchange ideas and set the bilateral agenda for cooperation.

Delegates

Agenda

DOWNLOAD AGENDA

The Forum is closed-door and held under the Chatham House rules.

Badge Pick-Up Attendance is by invitation only. Access to sessions is limited to badge holders.
8:00 hrs Taj Mahal Hotel
Welcome Remarks

Indrani Bagchi, CEO, Ananta Centre

9:00 hrs
Opening Remarks

Jamshyd N. Godrej, Forum Co-Chair, Founding Trustee, Ananta Centre and Chairman & MD, Godrej & Boyce

9:02 - 9:05 hrs
Session 1 │ Conversation

Admiral Krishna Swaminathan, PVSM, AVSM, VSM, Chief of the Naval Staff, Indian Navy

9:05 - 9:40 hrs
Session 2 │ Code and Combat: Navigating Tech, Trust and Innovation
  • RK Singh, Defence Secretary, Government of India
  • ACM NAK Browne (Retd), Director, Tata Advanced Systems
  • Vivek Lall, Chief Executive Officer, General Atomics Global Corporation
  • Frank Morley (V. Admiral Retd.), Vice President – International, Northrop Grumman
  • Abraham Denmark, Partner, Co-Chair of Defense & National Security Practice, The Asia Group
  • Pankaj Chadha, Executive Vice President and Head Marine systems, L&T
  • Michael Fernandez, Country Head, India, Lockheed Martin

Moderator: Sameer Lalwani, Senior Advisor, Special Competitive Studies Project (SCSP)

9:45 - 11:00 hrs
Session 4 │ Shipping the Future: IMEC and the new geography of trade
11:05 - 11:50 hrs
Session 5 │ Promises and Partnerships: Stress-testing the India-US trade relationship
  • Darpan Jain, Chief Negotiator, Ministry of Commerce, Government of India
  • Chandrajit Banerjee, Director General, Confederation of Indian Industry (CII)
  • Mukesh Aghi, President and CEO, USISPF
  • Arun Kumar, Partner, Celesta Capital
  • Ananth Narayan, Member, Mutual Fund Advisory Committee, SEBI; Member, Risk Management Committee, NSE

Moderator: Rajan Navani, Chairman & MD, Jetline Group India

12:00 - 13:00 hrs
Lunch
13:00 - 14:00 hrs
Session 6 │ Aligning Algorithms: Ctrl + Alt + Secure
  • Ylli Bajraktari, Founder & CEO, Special Competitive Studies Project
  • Sharad Sanghi, Founder & CEO, Neysa AI
  • Srikanth Velamakanni, Co-Founder and Group Executive, Fractal AI
  • Fariba Wells, SVP, Global Affairs, Kyndryl
  • Sunil Gupta, CEO, QNu Labs (tentative)

Moderator: Aman Khanna, MD and Partner, The Asia Group

14:00 - 15:00 hrs
Session 7 │ Power Play: Securing Our Energy Future
  • Neeraj Mittal, Secretary, Ministry of Petroleum & Natural Gas, India
  • Peter Lavoy, Senior Director, International Government Relations, ExxonMobil
  • Gurdeep Singh, CMD, National Thermal Power Corporation (NTPC)

Moderator: Pramit Pal Chaudhuri, South Asia Practice Head, Eurasia Group

15:00 - 15:45 hrs
Session 8 │ Conversation
16:00 - 16:30 hrs
Session 9 │ Capitol Calculus: Roundtable
  • Stephen Leighton – Deputy Chief of Staff, Rep. Brian Mast (R-FL)
  • Ethan Pido – Legislative Assistant, Rep. Frank Pallone Jr. (D-NJ)
  • Alec Daman – Legislative Director, Rep. Bill Huizenga (R-MI)
  • Anna McDonald – Policy Adviser, Rep. Sydney Kamlager-Dove (D-CA-37)
  • Joshua Buckingham – Legislative Director, Rep. Shri Thanedar (D-MI-13)
  • Preeti Turpuseema – Senior Legislative Assistant, Rep. Ro Khanna (D-CA)
  • Julie Singleton – Senior Adviser, Rep. Mike Turner (R-OH)
  • Sara Katsnelson – Deputy Staff Director HFAC, Rep. Brad Sherman (D-CA)
  • Abigail Jung – National Security Advisor, Rep. Scott Perry (R-PA)
  • Constantino Xavier, Senior Fellow, Foreign Policy and Security Studies, Centre for Social and Economic Progress (CSEP)
  • Happymon Jacob, Founder and Honorary Director, Council for Strategic and Defence Research (CSDR)
  • Pramit Pal Chaudhuri, South Asia Practice Head, Eurasia Group
  • Rudra Chaudhuri, Vice President, Observer Research Foundation

Moderator: Dhruva Jaishankar, Executive Director, Observer Research Foundation America (ORF America)

16:45 - 17:40 hrs Mansingh III & IV
Session 10 │ India to U.S. in 22 yards

Ishan Chatterjee, CEO-Sports, JioStar

Sambit Bal, Editor-in-chief, Cricinfo; Board Member, JioStar

Moderator: Ashok Malik, Partner and Chair of the India Practice, The Asia Group

17:45 - 18:30 hrs
Session 11 │ The Closest of Strangers: Re-imagining the India-US Relationship

S Jaishankar, Minister of External Affairs, Government of India
and
Indrani Bagchi, CEO, Ananta Centre

18:30 - 19:30 hrs
Inaugural Reception and Dinner By invitation only. All badge holders i.e. Forum attendees are cordially invited.
19:30 - 21:30 hrs

The Forum is closed-door and held under the Chatham House rules.

Session 12 │ US-India: The Indispensable Partnership, Reconsidered

Vikram Misri, Foreign Secretary of India and Forum Co-Chair
and
Pramit Pal Chaudhuri, Practice Head – South Asia, Eurasia Group

9:00 - 9:30 hrs
Session 13 │ Neutrons are forever: Civil Nuclear Cooperation
  • Mike Goff, Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary, Office of Nuclear Energy, US Department of Energy
  • Jamshyd Godrej, Forum Co-Chair; Founding Trustee, Ananta Centre and Chairman & MD, Godrej & Boyce
  • Annat Jain, CEO, Holtec Asia
  • Caroline Anderson, Director of External Affairs, Fusion Industry Association
  • Amit Sharma, MD, Tata Consulting Engineers
  • John Hopkins, President & CEO, NuScale (tentative)

Moderator: C Raja Mohan, Contributing Editor, Indian Express; Visiting Professor, Institute of South Asian Studies, NUS

9:35 - 10:35 hrs
Break
10:35 - 10:40 hrs
Session 14 │ Beyond the Capitals: Investment Pipelines
  • John Lenhart, Vice President, Global Government Affairs, Walmart
  • Rick Rossow, Chair, India and Emerging Asia Economics, Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS)
  • Atman Trivedi, Partner, DGA-Albright Stonebridge Group
  • Aaron Demerson, President & CEO, Texas Economic Development Corporation
  • Prerna Sharma, ACEO, Invest UP

Moderator: Anuj Poddar, MD and Asia Co-Head of Global Portfolio Solutions, The Carlyle Group

10:40 - 11:40 hrs
Session 15 │ Regulatory-Governance Reforms in India
  • V. Anantha Nageswaran, Chief Economic Advisor, Ministry of Finance, Government of India
  • Rahul Matthan, Partner, Trilegal

Moderator: Arghya Sengupta, Founder and Research Director, Vidhi Centre for Legal Policy

11:45 - 12:30 hrs
Session 16 │ Fabs to Data Centres: Building Tech Infra
  • Arvind Chandrasekar, Senior Director – Government Affairs, AMD India
  • Mihir Bhaskar, SVP R&D, IonQ
  • Vrinda Kapoor, Co-founder and CEO, 3rditech
  • Dhruv Varma, APAC Regional Leader, Data Center Liquid Cooling, The Chemours Company
  • Sunil Gupta, MD & CEO, Yotta
  • Sandeep Aurora, Group Director & Head of Public, Policy & Government Affairs, Microsoft India & South Asia

Moderator: Pranay Kotasthane, Chair, High Tech Geopolitics Programme and Deputy Director, Takshashila Institution

12:30 - 13:15 hrs
Lunch
13:15 - 14:00 hrs
Session 17 │ Conversation

S Krishnan, Secretary, MEITY, Government of India
and
Virat Bhatia, Managing Director, Apple India

14:00 - 14:30 hrs
Session 18 │ Beyond China+1: The Next Phase of India's Manufacturing Journey
  • V. Anantha Nageswaran, Chief Economic Advisor, Ministry of Finance, Government of India
  • Alexander Gray, CEO, American Global Strategies
  • Rohit Kumar Singh, Chair, Global Value Chains, US-India Strategic Partnership Forum (USISPF)
  • Josh Foulger, President of IT Hardware and New Projects, Dixon

Moderator: Virat Bhatia, Managing Director, Apple India

14:30 - 15:15 hrs
Session 19 │ Geostrategy
  • Aparna Ray, Joint Secretary, Policy Planning & Research Division, Ministry of External Affairs
  • Asha Jadeja, Founder, Motwani Jadeja Foundation
  • Zack Cooper, Senior Fellow, American Enterprise Institute
  • Jason Isaacson, Chief Policy Officer, American Jewish Congress
  • Joe Wang, Vice President for Global Affairs, SCSP

Moderator: Dhruva Jaishankar, Executive Director, Observer Research Foundation America

15:15 - 16:15 hrs
Session 20 │ Conversation

Nagaraj Naidu, Additional Secretary, Americas Division, Ministry of External Affairs
and
Paul Kapur, Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asia

Moderator: Indrani Bagchi, CEO, Ananta Centre

16:15 - 16:45 hrs
Closing Remarks

Indrani Bagchi, CEO, Ananta Centre

16:45 hrs
Reception and Dinner Hosted by the Ministry of External Affairs, Government of India. By invitation only.
18:30 hrs

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