There are two issues, which made Mr Trump more prominent for discussions in India than Mrs Hillary Clinton who is more close to India. First, it is Mr Trump’s blunt opposition to outsourcing of jobs and second, his stand against Muslims.

Both issues have relevance to India. USA is the biggest employer of Indian IT professionals. Indian high-skilled workers accounted for 70 percent of USA’s HI-B visa quota. There are 14.2 million Indian immigrants in the world. USA is the second biggest destination for the Indian immigrants, after UAE.

If Mr Trump really opts for hardening the outsourcing of jobs, it will have a major impact on India’s IT software exports (assuming that he will win the election), according to analysts. This is because USA accounts for 80% of India’s IT software and BPO services.

However, his position against Pakistan will help India having a supporting hand to curb Islamic terrorist activities, which is gradually picking up in India. Certain areas in India are emergingas the centres for training for terrorists, such as Hyderabad. He is being supported by many Indians – perhaps because of his views on Muslims and Pakistan.

USA is one of the biggest economic partners of India. It is the second biggest trading partner of India, accounting for 9.7 per cent of India’s global trade in 2015-16. It is also the biggest export destination for India, accounting for 15.4 per cent of India’s global export in 2015-16. In addition, USA is one of the biggest foreign investors in India. In 2015-16, USA accounted for 10.5 percent of total FDI flow in India.

Besides having a strong economic relations, USA is an important strategic partner country for India in energy, education, health. There are 50 bilateral dialogue mechanisms between the two governments.

Historically, Democrats are close to India. But, the achievement in Indo-USA civil nuclear deal, which was possible by relentless efforts of former Republican President George Bush, reflects that whoever rules the US government, Democratic or Republican, India’s close relation with USA is unlikely to be tampered.

In fact, India-USA relations took a paradigm shift from bilateral to multi-polar directions with China turning assertive for Asian hegemony. India needs US, support for the US – India relation has become a major policy issue in American political polarization. It would not be unreasonable to assume that Mr Donald Trump will follow the Obama administration’s Asia pivot policy to counter-balance the Chinese Asian hegemony. To this end, forecasting Mr Trump’s inclination towards India to tick up the relation can be a fair assumption, particularly when Prime Minister Narendra Modi was assertive in his Asia policy by changing the tack from Look East to Act Asia strategy.

Mrs Hillary Clinton has all along been good friend of India. The current stream of stabilized period of India-USA relations started with the advent of economic reforms in 1991. The good relation between the two countries was reinforced by Clinton’s visit to India. The question is will the present relations continue if Trump wins?

Trump himself has been relatively calm on the subject of India. India has a mixed relation with Republicans. Political interests and thoughts of Republican government are in coherence with that of India. There are several parallels between Trump and Modi. Trump’s campaign focused on economic inclusion in USA and job creation. In American election, job creation was never the uppermost agenda. These are much similar to Modi’s Make in India campaign to create employment opportunities in the country. Trump emphasized for public investment in infrastructure. So is Modi, infrastructure is high on his campaign.

According to Mr William H Avery, a former US diplomat, China and Pakistan have been using USA as cash cow for decades. China indulged in huge trade surplus with USA ( US $ 366 billion in 2015) and Pakistan soaked huge US aid , fuelling terrorism and radicalism, instead of spending on developments. The diplomat is of the view that if Trump wins, he would drastically cut down cash flow to both countries. Trump has called Pakistan “probably the most dangerous country” and said that “India is the check to Pakistan”. The statement is in stark contrast to Osama’s hinting for mediating Kashmir issue eight years ago in the Presidential election.

The crux of the matter is that Mr Trump is an unknown entity. His random statements cannot be taken as a direction for future American policy. His foreign policies and capabilities are yet to be known. He is essentially a businessman.

On the other hand, India is familiar with Mrs Hillary Clinton and her foreign policies. India believes that If Mrs Clinton wins, she will elevate the relations with India to a new level. According to John Podesta , Chairman of Mrs Clinton’s campaign committee, “future Democratic administration under Mrs Clinton will have a significant presence of Indian Americans” He said “ she believes that immigration is good for this country”. (IPA Service)