The first US trade delegation to India after the announcement of the US–India trade deal has signalled a decisive shift in bilateral engagement, with commercial space collaboration emerging as a central pillar of the renewed partnership. Speaking to NDTV’s Senior Executive Editor Aditya Raj Kaul, Peter Tichansky, President and CEO of the Business Council for International Understanding (BCIU), said the timing of the delegation could not have been more opportune, as political momentum and regulatory clarity begin to converge between the world’s two largest democracies. The BCIU-led delegation brought 14 US-based companies working in the commercial space sector to India, a country Tichansky described as having a “decades-long commitment” to space and a rapidly expanding, sophisticated ecosystem. He said the recently announced trade deal has “smoothed the way” for deeper cooperation across industries, particularly in areas like space that have historically been tightly controlled by governments. According to Tichansky, meetings with senior Indian officials, regulators and space institutions underscored both the scale of India’s capabilities and a growing appetite within the US private sector to engage more meaningfully. “What was really most impressive was how big and sophisticated the space industry is here,” he said, adding that the post–trade deal moment offers a rare opportunity to translate long-standing goodwill into concrete commercial partnerships.
About The Author
