India, US relations progressing in Modi's leadership: Official

Washington: The bilateral relationship between India and the US has grown enormously, especially on security and diplomatic fronts, after Prime Minister Narendra Modi came to power and America is hopeful that this alliance will only become more productive, a top State Department official has said.

"There's been enormous progress in US-India relations, and certainly since Prime Minister Modi came into office," said John Kirby, State Department Spokesman.

"The relationship continues to deepen and grow on the security front and certainly diplomatically, and we look forward to that relationship continuing to grow and to deepen and to become more productive. I think everybody has every expectation that it will," Kirby said yesterday.

Less than two weeks ago Modi met President Barack Obama at the UN headquarters in New York on the sidelines of the annual General Assembly meeting.

In the last one year the two leaders have met five times. Prior to that, US Secretary of State John Kerry and Commerce Secretary Penny Pritzker also hosted External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj and Union Commerce Minister Nirmala Sitharaman for the first ever India-US Strategic and Commercial Dialogue.