The much-delayed Indo-Us trade deal was finally announced last week. But the hyped clout of the Persons of Indian Origin (PIOs) in the USA appears to have played little part in reaching the nebulous agreement. In fact, 2025 saw the unraveling of the smug assumption that India’s most valuable export underpinning a special relationship with the USA are the PIOs, for whom Prime Minister Modi’s rally at Madison Square Garden in 2014 and the Howdy Modi show of strength in texas were organised.

PIOs were once seen as america’s model immigrants, with a mean household income even higher than the US average and a low crime rate. Indian Americans have headed corporate giants and donated millions to the trump campaign. They have made a name for themselves in professions ranging from academia to technology, banking and medicine. They have even arrived in US politics, traditionally the preserve of those with well established roots in the country. Kamala Harris was the Democrats’ candidate for President in 2024. New York’s newly elected mayor Zohran Mamdani’s bloodlines are Indian, even if he opts to play up his African background. The Indian connection even extends to Vice President JD Vance’s household — his wife Usha’s parents migrated from Andhra Pradesh. The number of........

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