NEW DELHI: Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and US President Donald Trump spoke over phone on Monday, Modi said in a post on X, the first contact between the two leaders since Trump's inauguration last week.

"We are committed to a mutually beneficial and trusted partnership," Modi said in the post, adding that he also congratulated his "Dear friend" on his historic second term in office.

"We will work together for the welfare of our people and towards global peace, prosperity, and security," Modi said. United States is India's largest trading partner and two-way trade between the two countries surpassed $ 118 billion in 2023-24, with India posting a trade surplus of $ 32 billion.

Most recent US census showed its Indian-origin population had grown by 50 percent to 4.8 million in the decade to 2020, while more than a third of the nearly 1.3 million Indian students studying abroad in 2022 were in US.

Published in The Daily National Courier, January, 28 2025

Like Business on Facebook, follow @DailyNCourier on Twitter to stay informed and join in the conversation.