New Delhi, Jan. 13: Two of US President-elect Donald Trump's senior-most cabinet picks have sent mixed signals to an anxious India in Senate hearings followed closely by Indian officials, leaving New Delhi more confident about strategic ties but worried about the bilateral economic relationship.

Rex Tillerson, nominated by Trump for secretary of state, told the Senate Foreign Relations committee on Wednesday that he would pursue a more muscular approach with Beijing in the South China Sea, going even beyond outgoing President Barack Obama's "Asia pivot" policy.

China is locked in territorial disputes with six countries in East and South East Asia over a series of disputed islands that Beijing has claimed - including some that it has unilaterally occupied - and that line waterways that carry over 70 per cent of India's maritime trade.

"We're going to have to send China a clear signal that, first the island building stops, and second, your access to those islands is also not going to be allowed," Tillerson said. "China's island building in the South China Sea is an illegal taking of disputed areas without regard for international laws."

Tillerson's comments have helped ease worries within the Indian foreign establishment that Trump may withdraw from Obama's "Asia pivot," to which India had increasingly aligned its own Asia Pacific strategy - the Act East policy.

But also on Wednesday, Trump's choice for attorney-general Jeff Sessions told the Senate Judiciary Committee that the incoming US administration would introduce strict curbs on the H1B temporary worker visa programme - of which Indians are the biggest beneficiaries.

A crackdown on the H1B scheme will directly hit Indian information technology firms, and thousands of Indians who use the programme to work in the US each year - an impact that officials said would shadow bilateral economic ties.

"It's simply wrong to think that we're in a totally open world and that any American with a job can be replaced if somebody in the world is willing to take a job for less pay," Sessions told the panel. "We have borders. We have a commitment to our citizens."

The partly sweet, partly sour tones of the two prospective cabinet members on subjects critical for India reflect the complexity of the relationship New Delhi may have to build with a Trump administration in Washington, senior officials told The Telegraph.

Though Trump is well disposed towards India in general, and the India-US relationship enjoys bipartisan support, officials said the President-elect and his close aides appeared to signalling they would bargain hard for a friendship on American terms.

On some matters like balancing China's influence, they said, a natural convergence of interests may pull Trump close to the Narendra Modi administration.

Trump had signalled during his election campaign a desire to review global security commitments his predecessors had made. India was worried that a withdrawal from Obama's "Asia pivot" could expose New Delhi's extended neighbourhood to greater influence from Beijing.

But Tillerson suggested he would be willing to prod Trump to do what Obama didn't - back up his words with a stronger military presence in the Asia Pacific region. "We have to deal with what we see, not what we hope," Tillerson told the Senate committee.

Tillerson's Senate hearing had some anxious moments for India, though.

Republican senator Cory Gardner asked Tillerson to pressure India, if he becomes secretary of state, to ease restrictions on American non-profit organisations like Compassion International. The home ministry has barred Compassion International from disbursing funds to Indian non-profits without seeking prior permission from the government. Critics of the American non-profit organisation have accused it of indulging in illegal religious conversions - a charge the group had denied.

"Since 2014, Compassion (International) has been the target of multiple coordinated governmental attacks because of its unapologetically Christian belief, but it has been delivering humanitarian services to hundreds of thousands of Indian children," Gardner said. "It is part of a broader pattern by the Government of India, where other NGOs have seen similar problems."

Tillerson was cautious in his response, thanking Gardner for "bringing it to my attention".

Sessions was less cautious in his hearing, when pressed on whether he would try and plug what critics call "loopholes" in the H1B programme that allow American companies to hire foreign workers even for jobs that American workers are already performing.

A majority of H1B visas are issued each year by the US to Indian workers, mostly in the information technology and related sectors. In 2015, 64 per cent of the 85,000 H1B visas allowed in the US were issued to Indians, including 84 per cent of visas issued for technology jobs. These include 65,000 visas for foreign nationals based abroad, and 20,000 visas for foreign students in the US.

"I believe this has been an abuse," Sessions said. "It needs to be addressed."