India will continue to bring down tariffs and phase out additional levies on imports as domestic manufacturing improves, a top finance ministry official said, ahead of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to the US.

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi will visit the US next week and meet President Donald Trump, the White House says. Other reports say Modi will attend a dinner hosted by the US president on the two-day trip.

A head of India’s budget on February 1st, Narendra Modi asked Lakshmi, the Hindu goddess of wealth, to bless the poor and the middle class. The prime minister’s request for divine intervention mingled public spirit with political self-interest: frustration about economic growth and joblessness contributed to Mr Modi’s loss of his outright majority in elections held last year.

Opposition lawmakers in India's parliament are protesting the US deportations of Indian immigrants. A US military plane carrying 104 Indian migrants-- deported as part of US President Donald Trump's immigration agenda-- landed in northern India's Punjab State on Wednesday.