Basant S. Sanghera is a Principal at The Asia Group. Basant brings extensive experience spearheading diplomatic initiatives to strengthen the U.S.-India strategic and commercial partnership.
Prior to joining TAG, Basant served at the Department of State for 12 years as a South Asia policy expert. Basant helped develop and coordinate the U.S. Government’s strategic engagement with India, serving as a key coordinator of the U.S.-India 2+2 Dialogue and taking a central role in the planning and execution of three U.S. presidential visits to India. Most recently, Basant covered a broad range of strategic and defense issues as Unit Chief on the Department’s India Desk. Previously, he was detailed to the National Security Council at the White House as Director for India and the Indian Ocean.
Basant’s other assignments have included Senior Advisor to U.S. Ambassador to India Richard Verma and as a Department detailee foreign policy advisor in the Office of Senator Tim Kaine. From 2011 to 2013, Basant served as Special Assistant to the Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs, where his portfolio covered South and Central Asia and global counterterrorism issues. He entered the Department as a John W. Gardner Fellow.
Basant is a term member at the Council on Foreign Relations. A native of California’s San Joaquin Valley, Basant is a graduate of the University of California, Berkeley.