Prime Minister Narendra Modi and US President Joe Biden today reviewed the state of India-US strategic partnership including in sectors like critical and emerging technologies and artificial intelligence.

It is understood that PM Modi and Joe Biden also touched upon the Ukraine conflict and its implications in their meeting that took place on the margins of the G-20 summit in this Indonesian city.

In its readout, the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) only said that the two leaders also discussed “topical global and regional developments” in the meeting.

“Prime Minister Narendra Modi met President of USA, Joseph R Biden on the margins of G-20 Leaders’ Summit in Bali today,” the MEA said.

“They reviewed the continuing deepening of the India – US strategic partnership including cooperation in future oriented sectors like critical and emerging technologies, advanced computing, artificial intelligence, etc,” it said in a statement.

The MEA said Prime Minister Modi thanked President Biden for his “constant support” for strengthening the India-US partnership.

“He expressed confidence that both countries would continue to maintain close coordination during India’s G-20 Presidency,” it said.

A White House readout said Biden met PM Modi and President Joko Widodo of Indonesia on the margins of the G20 summit in Bali to reaffirm their shared commitment to the G20 as the premier forum for international economic cooperation.

“Facing significant global challenges, the leaders discussed how the G20 continues to demonstrate its collective capacity to bring together major economies to advance sustainable and inclusive growth in our economies and beyond, tackle the ongoing climate, energy, and food crises, strengthen global health architecture and promote technological transformation,” it said.

The readout said President Biden applauded Indonesia’s G20 Presidency and that he looks forward to continuing to support the G20’s work under India’s Presidency.

The MEA said the two leaders expressed satisfaction about close cooperation between India and US in new groupings such as Quad and I2U2.

While the Quad comprises India, the US, Australia and Japan, the members of the I2U2 are India, Israel, the US and the United Arab Emirates.

On the Modi-Biden meeting, MEA spokesperson Arindam Bagchi described the conversation as “useful exchange”.

“A useful exchange between PM @narendramodi & @POTUS @JoeBiden on sidelines of G20 Bali Summit. Leaders appreciated the continuing deepening of India-US Strategic Partnership & close cooperation in groups like Quad, I2U2, etc. Agreed to maintain close coordination during #G20India,” he tweeted.

PM Modi and US President Biden held the conversation days after External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar met US Secretary of State Antony Blinken on the sidelines of the ASEAN-India Summit in the Cambodian capital of Phnom Penh.

Mr Jaishankar and Mr Blinken discussed a range of issues including bilateral ties, the Ukraine conflict and the situation in the Indo-Pacific among others.

Since the Ukraine conflict began in February, Prime Minister Modi spoke to Russian President Vladimir Putin as well as Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy a number of times.

In a phone conversation with President Zelenskyy on October 4, PM Modi said that there can be “no military solution” and that India is ready to contribute to any peace efforts.

In his meeting with Russian President Putin in the Uzbek city of Samarkand in September, PM Modi conveyed to him that “today’s era is not of war”.

India has not yet condemned the Russian invasion of Ukraine and it has been maintaining that the crisis must be resolved through diplomacy and dialogue.

Defence Minister Rajnath Singh on Monday said inflation in India is less as compared to the US, the UK and other countries. “Inflation in India is less as compared to America (US), Britain and other countries. Our economy is currently at the fifth position, which will rise to third place in the coming times,” Rajnath Singh said.

He also claimed that the country’s economy is progressing rapidly under Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

The defence minister was interacting with members of the Residents Welfare Association, Mahanagar, and citizens of the local parliamentary constituency here.

Praising the prime minister, he said, “PM Modi says ‘Make in India’ and also make for the world. Work pertaining to the manufacturing of BrahMos missile unit in Lucknow is being carried out on a fast track mode and ₹385 crore has been approved for the project recently.”

BrahMos manufacturing is part of India’s defence export plans and the country earlier this year signed a $375 million deal to export the supersonic cruise missile to the Philippines.

According to Singh, exports in the defence sector have risen from ₹900 crore in 2014 to ₹18,000 crore this year.

Meanwhile, the finance ministry on Monday said the “drastic decline” in October retail inflation is mainly due to a dip in food price inflation and the impact of government measures to check price rise would be felt more significantly in the coming months.

The Consumer Price Index (CPI)-based retail inflation declined from 7.41 per cent in September 2022 to 6.77 per cent in October 2022, data released by the National Statistical Office (NSO) showed.

In a series of tweets, the ministry said the prices of commodities like crude oil, iron ore and steel sobered in global markets and measures taken by the government to augment domestic supply helped to keep cost-push inflation in consumer items under control.

“The drastic decline in retail inflation is mainly due to a decrease in food price inflation,” the ministry tweeted.

The retail food inflation moderated significantly in October 2022 to 7.01 per cent, lower than 8.6 per cent recorded in September 2022. The decline in prices of vegetables, fruits, pulses and oils & fats contributed significantly to the reduction in containing food price inflation.

“Prices of commodities like crude oil, iron ore & steel sobered in global markets. This, coupled with measures taken by the government to rationalise tariff structures of major inputs to augment domestic supply, helped to keep cost-push inflation in consumer items under control,” the ministry said.

The ministry said to soften the prices of edible oils & pulses, tariffs on imported items have been rationalised from time to time and stock limits on edible oils maintained, to avoid hoarding. This led to moderation in ‘oils and fats’ and ‘pulses & products’ inflation to (-)2.15 per cent and 2.78 per cent, respectively.

“Further, the government has taken trade-related measures on wheat and rice to keep domestic supplies steady and curb the rise in prices. The impact of these measures is expected to be felt more significantly in the coming months,” the ministry added.

India is among the few countries the US Department of Treasury removed from its Currency Monitoring List.

The department announced the move in its biannual report to the US Congress. Other countries to be removed from the list include Mexico, Italy, Thailand, and Vietnam.

What is the Currency Monitoring List, and how is a country added to it?

The US Treasury Department has established the Currency Monitoring list to pay close attention to the major US trading partners’ currency practices and microeconomic policies.

According to the report, economies that meet two of the three criteria in the Trade Facilitation and Trade Enforcement Act of 2015 Act are added to the Monitoring List.

Once a country is placed on the list, it remains there for at least two consecutive reports to help the Treasury ensure that any improvement in the performance is durable and not due to temporary factors.

“Italy, India, Mexico, Thailand, and Vietnam have been removed from the Monitoring List in this Report, having met only one out of three criteria for two consecutive Reports,” the report stated.

In the November report, the Treasury assessed the performance of the 20 largest trading partners of the US who have met two of the three criteria listed below.

1. Significant bilateral trade surplus with the United States:

A significant bilateral trade surplus with the US means a trade surplus of at least $15 billion in goods and services.

2. Material current account surplus:

The department defines current material surplus as a surplus which is at least 3 per cent of the GDP “or a surplus for which Treasury estimates there is a material current account “gap” using Treasury’s Global Exchange Rate Assessment Framework (GERAF).”

3. Persistent, one-sided intervention:

In this criterion, the Treasury repeatedly assesses a foreign currency’s net purchases in at least eight out of 12 months. These net purchases “total at least 2 per cent of an economy’s GDP over 12 months”.

The Treasury department, in its report, has also assessed if the trading partners have manipulated the exchange rate between the US dollar and their currency to gain an unfair competitive advantage in international trade and prevent effective balance of payment adjustments.

The countries featured in the latest Monitoring report are Japan, China, Korea, Germany, Singapore, Taiwan, and Malaysia.