In 2025, India undertook a distinctive approach to its engagement with Washington: the deliberate use of professional lobbying firms to secure high-level access and manage strategic narrative. This decision reflected a practical recognition of contemporary realities in the U.S. policy ecosystem, where established diplomatic, political, institutional, and societal channels despite their depth and reach could not secure the desired outcomes within the required timeframe or measure for India's most time-sensitive priorities.
This episode offers a revealing case study in modern statecraft, highlighting both the utility and the limits of access-driven diplomacy.
The Strategic Context
India's engagement in 2025 was shaped by two overriding imperatives. The first concerned trade and tariff negotiations, where speed, seniority of access, and continuity of dialogue were critical. The second related to narrative positioning around Operation Sindur, a matter requiring real-time responsiveness and precise articulation within the highest levels of the U.S. policy and political ecosystem.
Despite the presence of long-standing diplomatic relationships, senior political engagement, institutional mechanisms within the Ministry of External Affairs, intelligence-level contacts, diaspora mobilisation, Overseas Friends of BJP networks, Hindu organisational connections, and other established avenues, these channels did not yield the level of immediacy, visibility, or narrative traction required. The constraints were not of effort or intent, but of structure, timing, and access.
It was within this context that India turned to professional lobbying firms as a supplementary instrument, not as a substitute for diplomacy, but as a mechanism to bridge access gaps in a highly personalised and transactional environment.
Sequenced Engagement with Lobbying Firms
India's engagement with U.S. lobbying firms followed a graduated and purpose-driven sequence, each phase responding to evolving strategic needs.
The foundation of this effort rested with BGR Government Affairs, a firm that has represented Indian interests in Washington over multiple years. In 2024, BGR operated under a six-month engagement valued at approximately US $300,000. Its role focused on strategic counsel, congressional outreach, and public affairs, offering continuity and institutional familiarity within Washington's legislative and policy circles. This engagement provided steady presence but was not designed for intensive, high-velocity executive-branch intervention.
As strategic demands intensified in early 2025, India entered into a far more robust engagement with SHW Partners LLC, led by Jason Miller, a senior political strategist closely associated with the Trump political ecosystem. In April 2025, the Indian Embassy in Washington contracted SHW Partners for a twelve-month mandate valued at US $1.8 million. Payments were structured in instalments, with US $450,000 paid on April 25 and a second US $450,000 on July 28, 2025, amounting to US $900,000 over the first six months.
SHW Partners' mandate extended well beyond conventional lobbying. It encompassed direct executive-branch engagement, White House access, strategic media coordination, and narrative positioning, particularly on Operation Sindur and trade-related matters. During this period, the firm documented more than sixty direct contacts with senior U.S. officials, including cabinet-level offices and senior White House staff. This engagement represented India's most concentrated effort to secure time-sensitive access, visibility, and responsiveness at the highest levels of the U.S. administration.
As trade discussions became more focused in the latter half of 2025, India supplemented this effort with a targeted engagement of Mercury Public Affairs LLC. This engagement ran for approximately three months, from August to October 2025, at a fee of US $75,000 per month. Mercury's role was narrower and more technical, centred on federal government relations, regulatory visibility, and trade-policy advocacy, complementing the broader access-driven mandate of SHW Partners.
Taken together, these engagements reflected a deliberate layering of capabilities: institutional continuity through BGR, executive-level access and narrative management through SHW Partners, and focused policy advocacy through Mercury. The combined financial commitment exceeded US $1.5 million within a compressed timeframe, underscoring the strategic importance India attached to its Washington engagement during this period.
Access Achieved, Outcomes Still Maturing
The use of professional intermediaries achieved what other channels could not within the same timeframe: direct, sustained access to senior decision-makers, rapid responsiveness, and structured narrative articulation. These were meaningful gains in an environment where timing and proximity often determine relevance.
However, while access and visibility were secured, the translation of these into definitive policy outcomes particularly tariff adjustments and fully consolidated narrative positioning remained work in progress. This was less a reflection of executional deficiency than of the inherent complexity of U.S. policymaking, where access initiates dialogue but influence requires prolonged alignment across institutions and stakeholders.
The experience reinforces a fundamental distinction: access is an enabler, not an endpoint.
Strategic Insights
Several insights emerge with clarity:
Traditional channels, though indispensable, could not deliver the required impact within the necessary timeframe or measure for India's immediate priorities.
Professional lobbying provided access and continuity where speed, seniority, and responsiveness were essential.
Multiple firms expanded reach, but outcomes depend on strategic coherence, sequencing, and sustained engagement beyond initial access.
Narrative positioning is cumulative, requiring persistence and reinforcement rather than episodic intervention.
The Way Ahead
India's 2025 experience does not argue against the use of lobbying firms; rather, it underscores the need to embed such engagements within a longer-term, outcome-oriented strategy. Access must be systematically converted into influence through clarity of objectives, disciplined follow-through, and integration with broader diplomatic and policy frameworks.
Future engagement with Washington will demand:
Strategic clarity on desired outcomes, not merely access points.
Integrated execution, aligning professional intermediaries with policy depth and institutional engagement.
Metrics that prioritise influence and traction, rather than volume of contact.
Sustained narrative effort, calibrated to the rhythms of U.S. political and policy cycles.
Finally, India's strategic experiment in Washington illustrates the evolving nature of global diplomacy. Established channels, despite their depth and legitimacy, could not secure outcomes in the required timeframe or measure for certain critical priorities. Professional lobbying provided access, visibility, and opportunity but influence remains a function of vision, coherence, and sustained execution.
The lesson is neither cautionary nor critical; it is instructive. In a world where access is fragmented and influence is incremental, India's task is to ensure that every door opened is followed by a strategy capable of shaping outcomes. Only then can access mature into enduring influence, and engagement translate into measurable strategic return.
[Major General Dr. Dilawar Singh, IAV, is a distinguished strategist having held senior positions in technology, defence, and corporate governance. He serves on global boards and advises on leadership, emerging technologies, and strategic affairs, with a focus on aligning India's interests in the evolving global technological order.]
