U.S. aims to expand India arms trade by "billions of dollars"

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States has already made "tremendous progress" in expanding weapons sales to India since 2008, and U.S. companies could see "billions of dollars" in additional sales in coming years, a senior U.S. State Department official said Thursday.

Andrew Shapiro, assistant secretary of state for political-military affairs, said U.S. sales of military equipment to India had grown from zero in 2008 to around $8 billion (5.2 billion pounds), despite a decision by India to choose a French-built plane in a closely-watched fighter plane competition.