India’s relationship with the United States is the strongest it has been in years.

U.S. President Joe Biden and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi are set to fulfill for one more bilateral assembly later Friday on the Group of 20 summit in New Delhi, after several one-on-one meetings earlier this year.

Despite warming ties — with each leaders sharing a hug throughout Modi’s state go to to Washington in May — a “traditional alliance” between the 2 nations stays off the desk, based on the Council on Foreign Relations. 

“I do not think India and the United States are headed for a traditional alliance relationship … India is keen to make sure it protects its ability to make its own decisions on every kind of question,” mentioned Alyssa Ayres, adjunct senior fellow for India, Pakistan, and South Asia on the Council on Foreign Relations. 

India is a “very independent” nation, and the standard alliance relationship the U.S. has with different nations “creates an almost unexpectable level of deference on the part of the other country,” Ayres instructed CNBC’s “Squawk Box Asia” on Friday. 

“India very much doesn’t want … what it sees as its freedom of action in the future, constrained by requirements to act on behalf of another country due to an alliance agreement,” Ayres added. 

Both nations nonetheless have disagreements, with a notable one being their views on the Russia-Ukraine battle, which Washington has condemned however New Delhi has up to now kept away from doing so.

India has purchased discounted Russian oil because the battle broke out in February final 12 months, and now imports about 40% of its crude provide from Moscow.

“Obviously, this is an area where American foreign policy leaders would like to see something different given American concerns about Russia’s war in Ukraine,” Ayres highlighted. 

“So I think that this is yet another area where you do see some space between American interests and Indian interests … That’s probably going to remain an area of disagreement.” 

Although an India-U.S. alliance appears to be off the desk, the partnership between the 2 nations will proceed to strengthen, with expertise cooperation on the forefront of it.

In May, Biden and Modi introduced a slew of technology and defense deals, starting from collaborating on diversifying provide chains to working collectively throughout house and synthetic intelligence.

“Technology generally has really been in the lead in improving this relationship,” mentioned Evan Feigenbaum, vice chairman for research on the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.

“For a long time, people used to talk about India as a country that needed to be reformed. But increasingly, India has models and ideas and things that have been tested domestically that can be exported and scaled,” Feigenbaum instructed CNBC.

“They’re relevant in parts of the world, especially the global south like Africa and the Middle East, much more relevant than the models the United States and Europe has,” he added, citing the instance of how India’s digital infrastructure has helped the “unbanked become banked.” 

“It’s something the government wants to showcase and it’s something you’re going to hear a lot about at this G20,” Feigenbaum mentioned.