In 2019, Trump held a "Howdy Modi" rally with Modi in Houston, drawing 50,000 people, mainly Indian Americans. Laying the groundwork for a new Modi-Trump meeting is also on the agenda of Indian Foreign Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar, who attended Trump's inauguration on Monday and met U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio.

Washington: The United States under the leadership of newly sworned-in President Donald Trump desires to have advance economic ties India and also wants to address concerns related to irregular migration,

Jaishankar said that the two countries would like to deepen ties in defence, security, technology and more domains and are competing on how to take it forward.

India is also playing ball because it wants to hold on to the legal channels for immigration that Indians now enjoy. With a new sheriff in town — and a possible trade war looming — India on Tuesday declared it will help President Trump identify its citizens residing illegally in the United States and then take them back.

India’s government is prepared to work with Donald Trump’s administration to identify and take back all its citizens residing illegally in the US, an early signal from New Delhi that it’s willing to comply with the incoming American president and avoid a trade war.