page_title: Harsh Vardhan Shringla
section_title: Ambassador of India to the United States
hierarchical_section_title: Harsh Vardhan Shringla / Ambassador of India to the United States
caption_attribution_description: English: Ambassador Shringla talking about India-US Bilateral Relations at Carnegie
context_page_description: Harsh Vardhan Shringla is an Indian diplomat serving as the 33rd and current Foreign Secretary of India since 29 January 2020. He previously served as the Ambassador of India to the United States of America, High Commissioner to Bangladesh and Ambassador to Thailand.
context_section_description: Ambassador Shringla assumed charge as Indian Ambassador to the United States on 9 January 2019 at the age of 55 years making him the youngest Ambassador of India to the United States. He presented his credentials to the President of the United States Donald Trump on 11 January 2019, just two days after his arrival. On 7 February 2019, he received a rousing welcome at the Congressional Reception hosted by the Senate India Caucus and Congressional Caucus on India and Indian-Americans which was attended by an unprecedented 67 Members of the US Congress, including Senators.
  In a short but intense period of just one year, Ambassador Shringla exponentially expanded the Embassy's outreach to the US Congress, the Indian-American community, Indian students in the US, think-tanks, pushed for a whole of government approach in the India-US trade talks and significantly raised the visibility of the India growth story beyond Washington DC in the United States.
  A focused outreach in Congress was a central prong of this outreach - Ambassador Shringla personally met with 160 Members of Congress. He addressed and interacted with members of all major think-tanks in Washington DC including the Heritage Foundation, the Hudson Institute, Brookings, Atlantic Council, Center for American Progress.
  Ambassador Shringla's attention to the issues faced by the Indian student community in the US was drawn soon after his arrival in the wake of the Farmington University crisis. With 129 students arrested and detained, Shringla working along with the Embassy team and the Consulates ensured consular access to each and every detained student and all students were either released or allowed to go back to India within about a month. At the same time, to prevent such incidents from recurring, a detailed press release was issued in India and in the US to raise awareness among the Indian student community about the risks of being entrapped in fake universities. Ambassador Shringla was a strong advocate on the issue of visas for high-skilled professionals, raising the issue with relevant US lawmakers and administration agencies to highlight the contributions of Indian professionals to the competitiveness of US companies facing a STEM skills shortage. In his travel across 21 US states, Ambassador Shringla made a concerted effort to reach out to students. In separate visits, he addressed about 300 students at the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill, at the Stanford Graduate School of Business, at the Harvard Kennedy School, at Georgetown University and hosted Indian students at the Embassy for a “chai and chat” session. He also addressed Indian students in various US universities over video-link.
  The biggest event undoubtedly was Howdy Modi in Houston on 22 September 2019 where Prime Minister of India, Shri Narendra Modi was joined by the President of the United States Donald J. Trump to jointly address a gathering of over 50,000 Indian-Americans and 22 Members of US Congress, Senators and Governors, making it the largest event for a foreign Head of Government visiting the United States. The event was a crowning moment of an extremely successful visit by the Prime Minister of India to the United States during which he was awarded the Global Goalkeeper Award by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation in recognition for the Swachh Bharat mission and was keynote speaker at the Bloomberg business event. He also had a productive bilateral meeting with President Trump in New York. The Prime Minister's meeting with top American energy sector CEOs in Houston also shone a light on the rapid progress being made in energy cooperation between India and the United States. India is now importing nearly $6 billion worth of oil and natural gas and imports are slated to increase to $8 billion in 2020.  
  The booming energy relationship also contributed to reducing the trade imbalance and finding a mutually beneficial understanding of trade issues - a priority that he worked on actively during his tenure. His approach on strengthening trade and economic ties has been coordinating 
caption: Ambassador Harsh Vardhan Shringla discussing on India-US Relations at Carnegie Endowment for International Peace in Washington, DC on 30 April 2019