Rubio to hold Mumbai talks and visit Jamnagar refinery amid India-US tensions

United States Secretary of State Marco Rubio is due to visit India in the coming week for talks in Mumbai, rather than New Delhi, in a trip that has drawn political criticism in India. According to the US Department of State, Rubio will meet Indian External Affairs Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar in Mumbai on Monday before travelling to Jamnagar in Gujarat. The itinerary has become a point of contention because it places the main diplomatic meeting outside the Indian capital and includes a stop at one of the country's most prominent energy sites.

The State Department said Rubio is arriving on Sunday from Samarkand, Uzbekistan, where he has been attending the C5+1 summit with five Central Asian states. In India, he is expected to discuss the US-India strategic partnership and energy cooperation, and to hold talks with business leaders. Indian Ministry of External Affairs spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said on Friday that the Mumbai discussions would cover energy, trade and investment, defence, and critical and emerging technologies.

The planned visit to Jamnagar will take Rubio to the world's largest single-site refinery, operated by Reliance Industries, and to a reception hosted by the Ambani family. The trip has prompted a political storm in India after the US ambassador to India said Washington expected Jaishankar to travel to meet Rubio. Opposition leaders accused the government of allowing India's top diplomat to be effectively summoned on home soil.

The criticism reflects sensitivity around diplomatic protocol as well as the wider state of the relationship, which has been strained by trade disputes, tariffs and India's purchases of Russian oil. Rubio was last in New Delhi in May for a meeting of foreign ministers from the Quad grouping, which includes the United States, India, Japan and Australia. The visit matters because it comes at a time when Washington and New Delhi are trying to manage several overlapping pressures.

Energy has become a central issue in the relationship, with the refinery stop underscoring the commercial and strategic importance of India's oil sector. The trip also comes as fuel prices are a domestic political concern in the United States ahead of next month's midterm elections, adding another layer to the optics of the visit. Reliance, which operates across energy, retail and telecommunications, sits at the centre of that broader energy diplomacy.

Rubio's itinerary also highlights how bilateral ties are being shaped by both official diplomacy and public messaging. The choice of Mumbai over New Delhi has amplified scrutiny of the visit, even though the stated agenda includes trade, defence and emerging technologies. The Jamnagar stop points to the role of major Indian industrial groups in the relationship, particularly in energy and investment.

It also suggests that the talks are intended to go beyond formal government meetings and include business engagement. What remains unclear is whether the controversy will affect the substance of the discussions or the tone of the visit. It is also not yet clear whether the itinerary will change before Rubio arrives in India.

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