Indian Embassy steps up engagement via Trump aide’s firm to deal with trade talks, Operation Sindoor and bilateral ties

The Indian Embassy in Washington reached out to three senior Trump officials on May 10, the day of the Operation Sindoor ceasefire, including White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles, U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer and Ricky Gill at the National Security Council to discuss “media coverage” of the conflict, says a filing by a U.S. lobby firm with the U.S. Department of Justice. While the filing, including 60 entries made in December 2025 on the DoJ’s Foreign Agent Registration Act (FARA) website doesn’t divulge whether the calls were made before or after the ceasefire, they indicate close interaction on the day.

The Modi government has thus far repeatedly denied that the U.S. played any role in mediating the 4-day India-Pakistan conflict after the Pahalgam terror attack, despite several claims by U.S. President Donald Trump and Secretary of State Marco Rubio’s decision to award Mr. Gill for the role he played. In particular, the MEA has consistently denied Mr. Trump’s contention, repeated last week, that he had threatened to stop trade if the conflict wasn’t ended, and the call made to Mr. Greer to discuss Operation Sindoor is particularly significant. 

The Hindu sent a detailed set of questions to the Ministry of External Affairs in Delhi and Embassy of India in Washington to confirm the FARA filings as well as the specific calls made on May 10 and will update this story if any responses are given.

The Filings by U.S. lobby firm SHW LLC raised eyebrows amongst diplomats in Delhi as the firm also claimed that it set up meetings for several Indian officials- from External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar, to Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri, Dy NSA Pavan Kapoor and even Indian Ambassador Vinay Kwatra with top Trump administration officials  over the past year.

Ahead of Mr. Jaishankar’s visit to Washington in June to attend the Quad Foreign Minister’s meeting, the practice is a first, says former and current MEA officials, and indicates that rather than normal bilateral channels, the engagements, broadly over India-US trade ties, and Operation Sindoor were set up by the firm, led by a former spokesperson of U.S. President Donald Trump, Jason Miller, who is listed as the Principal of SHW LLC. While the Embassy has always contracted 2-3 lobbyists at a time, to consult them on working with the Democrat and Republican parties, this is the first time a lobby firm has been asked to set up meetings with US officials, as also to schedule calls with government officials.

“Such meetings are routinely sought by the mission directly,” at least two government officials told The Hindu. “This seems to indicate that the Trump administration has set new rules of engagement and the government has been left with little choice but to play along,” said a former diplomat who had served at the Indian Embassy previously.  Another official said that Lobbyists are hired “for advice and to understand the landscape, giving advice and opening some doors,” but that meetings and calls are made between diplomats directly.  One former diplomat said that India’s previous stance was in contrast to “countries like Pakistan” that had extensively used such lobby networks to improve engagement with the U.S. government.

SHW LLC was contracted by the Indian Embassy on April 24, 2024 in addition to its other regular lobby firms which include the Republican Party linked- BGR, Democrat-linked Cornerstone Government Affairs, and The Williams Group linked to the African-American Caucus. It has no other clients over the year according to the six FARA filings it made, and has been paid $900,000 (8.11 crore rupees) in two quarterly instalments as part of an annual contract for $1.8 million.

On April 24 itself, its first listing says that it made a call for an “Embassy of India meeting request from Ambassador Vinay Kwatra for Undersecretary of War Elbridge Colby”.  Apart from the calls on May 10, the firm billed the Embassy for making requests for the Parliamentary delegation led by opposition leader Shashi Tharoor to meet US VP Vance and others. On June 23, days before Mr. Jaishankar’s visit to Washington to attend the Quad Foreign Minister’s meeting, SHW says that it sent emails requesting meetings for the External Affairs Minister with US Vice President JD Vance, Secretary of War Pete Hegseth and CIA Chief John Ratcliffe. Mr. Jaishankar made 6 visits to the US since Mr. Trump won elections in November 2024, but this was the only visit that records such requests. 

Of 60 entries detailing requests from the Indian Embassy, 30 recorded by SHW were requests for telephone calls to trade officials and White House senior officials to “discuss [the] status of U.S.-India trade conversations”. The calls increased in frequency as relations nosedived over US decisions to impose 25% reciprocal tariffs and another 25% in penalty tariffs for India’s oil procurement.

As tensions abated after Mr. Trump and Mr. Modi exchanged cordial words over social media, SHW said it made calls to White House officials to “flag social media post by Prime Minister Modi”, presumably a reference to Mr. Modi’s post on X on September 6 where he appreciated Mr. Trump’s comments in a White House briefing that praised the strength of bilateral ties. Mr. Trump subsequently called PM Modi for his birthday on September 17, and the two leaders have spoken several times since then. Mr. Miller’s proximity to Mr. Trump was seen around the same time as he posted a picture with the US President in the White House on September 6. It is unclear if he discussed India-US ties at the time, saying in the post that his visit to Washington was  “topped off…by having the opportunity to stop in and see our President in-action! Keep up the great work, [Mr. Trump]”. On October 9, Mr. Miller called the White House officials again to “flag” another post by Mr. Modi congratulating Mr. Trump on the Gaza peace proposal, and the two leaders spoke over the telephone the same day.