Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman visited US from 13 -18 October 2021. She held the U.S.-India Economic and Financial Partnership Dialogue with U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen. During her visit the Minister said "the reforms that we've undertaken, particularly the steps taken for the withdrawal of the retrospective tax have been mentioned by the United States administration as a very positive step”. During her visit the Minister also met with prominent business leaders in the US, attended and from G20 countries, attended Roundtables by US India Business Council (USIBC)and US India as Strategic Partnership Forum (USISPF) and participated in the annual meetings of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank.

In less than a fortnight after the PM Modi President Biden in-person bilateral meeting, there has been several high-level visits between India and US. Prominent among them include visits of Indian Finance Minister NIrmala Sitharaman to US, US Deputy Secretary of State Windy Sherman to India; US Chief of Naval Operations (CNO) to India; and the visit of Chief of Defence Staff General Bipin Rawat to US. On 8th October 16th Defence Policy Group meeting was held. The India - US Industrial Security Agreement (ISA) summit took place between September 27 to October 01, 2021 in New Delhi.

Minister of Environment, Forest and Climate Change Bhupendra Yadav and US Special Presidential Envoy on Climate Change John Kerry launched the climate action and finance mobilization dialogue during the visit of Kerry to India. Through the mechanism the two countries will work to chart pathways to decarbonize energy intensive sectors of the economy. Kerry expressed his excitement to have launched US-India hydrogen task force.

Indian stocks have risen more than any other major market in the world this year and that is enticing millions of local investors to put their savings into equities, further buoying the market. Underpinning the market run-up is rising confidence in India’s growth prospects, as the economy has reopened and recovered from impact of Covid-19 surge in April and May.

At least half of India’s 1.4 billion people have had at least one dose of a Covid-19 vaccine and about 19% are now fully vaccinated. India’s economy is likely to grow 9.3% in the current financial year, which runs through next March, Moody’s Investors Service estimates.

Maritime forces from Australia, India, Japan, and the United States began Phase II of Exercise MALABAR 2021 in the Bay of Bengal on October 11. The U.S. Navy hosted this year’s annual maritime exercise which includes a variety of high-end tactical training, including specific interactions that are designed to enhance interoperability between the Royal Australian Navy (RAN), Indian Navy (IN), Japan Maritime Self Defense Force (JMSDF) and U.S. maritime forces. The first phase of MALABAR, which began in August, included maritime operations, anti-submarine warfare operations, air warfare operations, live-fire gunnery events, replenishments-at-sea, cross-deck flight operations, and maritime interdiction operations in the Philippine Sea.

The 17th edition of the India-U.S. bilateral exercise, Yudh Abhyas 2021, got under way at the Joint Base Elmendorf Richardson, Alaska, U.S., with the two sides honing their skills in counter-terror operations in mountainous terrain and cold climate conditions. The exercise scheduled from October 15 to 29 will witness 300 soldiers belonging to the First Squadron (Airborne) of the 40th Cavalry Regiment from the US side and 350 soldiers of the 7 Madras infantry battalion from the Indian side.

India is to begin granting tourist visas for foreign visitors after an 18-month pause due to the Covid-19 pandemic.Tourists arriving by chartered flight are able to do so from October 15, according to a press release from India's Ministry of Home Affairs. Other arrivals would be permitted from November 15.