United States says, India has the required institutional capacity to become global power. Obama Administration's pointman for South and Central Asia, Robert Blake said in Washington that U.S. sees a growing strategic conversions between the two nations.

Speaking ahead of the next week's Indo-U.S. strategic dialogue, he said, that the ties between India and United States over the last 10 years have grown manifold and have indicated that sky is the limit. 

In his remarks on Indo-U.S. strategic ties, Mr. Blake said that Indian - American community played a crucial role in taking the bilateral relations to greater heights.

Indian-Americans have swept this year's prestigious spelling bee competition with the top three spots being bagged by them. 

Snigdha Nandipati, 14, an eighth-grade student from San Diego, California, correctly spelled the French word guetapens to be declared the national champion for the year 2012.

Beating eight other finalists in the competition, Snigdha became the fifth American of south Asian origin to win the venerable competition in as many consecutive years.

As the winner Snigdha will take home 30,000 dollars in cash, a trophy, a 2,500 dollars savings bond, a 5,000 dollars scholarship and 2,600 dollars in reference works from the Encyclopedia Britannica and an online language course.

The second spot went to 14-year-old Stuti Mishra from Orlando, Florida while 12-year-old Arvind Mahamkali from New York bagged the third position in this nationally televised competition last night.

The three were among the nine finalists from the 278 national contestants.