India’s Embassy in Washington has renewed its engagement with lobbying firm SHW Partners LLC under a 12-month contract valued at $1.8 million, aimed at expanding its outreach within the Trump administration, according to disclosure documents reviewed by HT. The firm, led by President Donald Trump’s former spokesperson Jason Miller, was originally retained by India in April 2025.
In a filing submitted to the US Department of Justice on June 17, SHW Partners described the scope of its work, stating: “SHW provides strategic counsel, tactical planning, and government relations assistance on policy matters before the US Government, US Congress, state governments, academic institutions, think tanks, and any other relevant stakeholders.”
Disclosure records show that the latest agreement took effect on April 24 this year and will remain in force until April 23, 2027. SHW Partners had previously been engaged under a comparable arrangement spanning April 2025 to April 2026, with the Indian Embassy paying the firm $450,000 in advance every quarter.
Miller, the founder of SHW Partners and a veteran Republican political strategist, first gained national attention in 2016 when he served as Donald Trump’s chief media spokesperson. Although he did not become part of the Trump administration following a controversy, he has continued to play a key role in Trump’s political network, advising the 2020 re-election campaign before returning as a strategist for the 2024 presidential campaign.
Filings submitted by SHW Partners indicate that the firm assisted India in engaging senior members of the Trump administration following the April 2025 Pahalgam terror attack and during Operation Sindoor in May. Among those contacted were White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles, US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer, Under Secretary of War Elbridge Colby and then-National Security Council official Ricky Gill.
Following the launch of Operation Sindoor in the early hours of May 7, SHW Partners also sought to arrange an interview for Ambassador Vinay Kwatra with Fox News anchor Brett Baier.
The disclosures further show that, in June, the lobbying firm approached multiple US government departments to organise meetings between External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar and senior American officials, including Vice President JD Vance, CIA Director John Ratcliffe and Secretary of War Pete Hegseth.
During July and August, SHW Partners continued its outreach efforts by engaging White House officials, the Office of the US Trade Representative and Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick as discussions over the ongoing US-India trade negotiations continued.
Also read | 'Communism a mortal threat to American liberty': Trump Addresses Landmark US 250 Event
