By The South Asia Times

WASHINGTON/ NEW DELHI -India reportedly spent around $900,000 to hire a firm led by U.S. President Donald Trump’s ally to arrange high-level meetings—including for Foreign Minister S. Jaishankar—with U.S. officials, and sought Washington’s assistance in securing a ceasefire with Pakistan during a brief conflict in May last year.

A detailed report by the Indian media outlet, The Hindu, has shed new light on how the government of Prime Minister Narendra Modi relied on a U.S. lobbying firm led by a former aide to President Donald Trump to engage top American officials during a sensitive phase of India–Pakistan tensions and worsening trade relations with Washington.

According to The Hindu, filings made under the United States’ Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA) show that SHW LLC, a lobbying firm headed by former Trump spokesperson Jason Miller, conducted a flurry of outreach on behalf of the Indian Embassy in Washington on May 10, the same day a ceasefire took hold following the four-day India–Pakistan military confrontation triggered by the Pahalgam incident.

While the filings do not specify whether these calls were made before or after the ceasefire, and India sought U.S. help in ceasefire with Pakistan, the newspaper said they “indicate close interaction on the day.”

The documents reveal that the firm contacted key figures including White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles, U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer, and National Security Council official Ricky Gill, ostensibly to discuss “media coverage” of the conflict.

These disclosure disproves India’s claim that the U.S. played no role in the ceasefire with Pakistan, and that New Delhi did not plead with President Trump to ensure a ceasefire with Pakistan.

The Modi government has consistently rejected claims by President Trump that Washington intervened to defuse the crisis, and it saved India.

The Hindu noted that a call arranged with U.S. Trade Representative Greer is particularly significant, given Trump’s public assertion that he had threatened to halt trade unless the conflict ended.

- Trump-Linked Firm Set Up Meetings for Top Indian Officials Instead of India Embassy

The controversy centers on SHW LLC, which was contracted by the Indian Embassy on April 24, 2025. As previously reported by Dawn on May 2, the firm, led by Jason Miller, was registered as a foreign agent for India at a fee of $150,000 per month.

FARA filings show that SHW LLC had no other clients during the period and received $900,000 in two quarterly payments under a one-year contract worth $1.8 million.

According to The Hindu, the firm claimed credit for arranging meetings and calls for a wide range of senior Indian officials, including External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar, Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri, Deputy National Security Advisor Pavan Kapoor, and even Indian Ambassador to the U.S. Vinay Kwatra, with high-ranking members of the Trump administration.

Which show that Indian embassy in Washington was unable to even arrange meetings for Indian senior officials with Trump administration.

Former and serving diplomats told the newspaper that while Indian missions regularly hired lobbyists to understand the U.S. political landscape, this is the first time a firm appears to have been tasked with directly setting up meetings and calls with American officials.

- Intense Lobbying Amid Tariffs and Russian Oil Dispute

The FARA records detail at least 60 separate entries documenting requests made on India’s behalf. Of these, nearly half involved calls to trade officials and senior White House figures to “discuss the status of U.S.–India trade conversations.”

The frequency of such calls reportedly increased as relations deteriorated over Washington’s decision to impose a 25% reciprocal tariff on Indian goods, followed by another 25% penalty tariff linked to India’s continued purchase of Russian oil at discounted rates.

As tensions eased and Trump and Modi exchanged friendly messages on social media, SHW LLC reported making calls to U.S. officials to “flag” Modi’s posts. Trump later phoned Modi on his birthday in September 2025, and the two leaders have spoken multiple times since, according to U.S. and Indian officials.

Beyond crisis management, the lobbying firm also billed the Indian Embassy for seeking meetings for a parliamentary delegation led by opposition figure Shashi Tharoor, and for arranging high-level requests ahead of Jaishankar’s visit to Washington for the Quad Foreign Ministers’ meeting in June 2025, including outreach to Vice President J.D. Vance, Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth, and CIA Director John Ratcliffe.

- India’s Long Record of Heavy Spending on US Lobbying

The revelations have reignited scrutiny of how much India spends to shape policy and perception in Washington. Data from the U.S. Department of Justice’s FARA database show that over the past decade, Indian government agencies and affiliated entities have paid tens of millions of dollars to American lobbying and public relations firms.

Investigations by U.S. watchdog groups and media outlets have previously documented annual Indian lobbying expenditures ranging between $3 million and $8 million, making India one of the largest foreign spenders on influence operations in the United States.

Major firms retained in the past have included prominent bipartisan lobbying shops with close ties to Congress, the State Department, and the White House.

- Diplomatic Unease in New Delhi

The SHW disclosures have caused unease among Indian diplomats and former officials, who fear the optics of relying on politically connected intermediaries rather than formal state-to-state channels.

An Indian Embassy spokesperson told The Hindu that hiring lobbying firms is “consistent with local practice and requirements” and has been done by successive governments since the 1950s. Another official, however, acknowledged that while lobbyists are typically engaged “to understand the landscape” and “open some doors.”

For critics, the episode raises uncomfortable questions about whether New Delhi’s foreign policy is becoming overly dependent on personal networks in Washington, particularly during moments of crisis.

As trade frictions, geopolitical realignments, and the Russia-Ukraine conflict continue to reshape U.S.–India relations, the disclosure of behind-the-scenes lobbying underscores how influence, access, and diplomacy are increasingly intertwined—sometimes at the cost of transparency and institutional norms.