1. Using miles to redeem for travel to India is generally a poor redemption of miles. Flights from the US to India are generally just slightly more expensive than US to Europe flights. There is a ton of competition to India. You've got AI and UA flying USA to India nonstops, then AF/KL/LH/LX/BA/AY/TK competing with stops in Europe and EY/EK/QR competing with stops in the Middle East. If you're on the West Coast, you can fly CX/JL/etc. via NRT/HKG and if you feel adventurous, even transit via PEK or PVG.
2. If you don't have other places you want to go with your miles and want to use them for India... it's a no brainer. United is the best. Here's why:
a) AA: See my thread - it's 90,000 miles roundtrip and a pain to avoid routing via LHR so you can avoid BA's awful surchrages:
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/ameri...no-answer.html - it can be done but it takes time and effort
b) Delta: Forget about it - it's nearly impossible to get a reasonable routing for any reasonable number of miles. Trust me, you do not want to fly Saudia and AF/KL are nothing special besides the fact that it'll be a miracle to find low-level availability in the first place.
c) US Airways: Much more painful than United and soon joining American so will remain painful, only roundtrips allowed, $25 booking fee, yuck.
d) United: Tons of availability on *A partners - most often on LH through MUC or FRA but you can get TPAC availability as well and if you're lucky you can get the EWR - BOM/DEL nonstop or fly the usually delightful TK through IST. This will cost you 80,000 miles in Economy + ~$80 in taxes (mostly due to the Indian fees). The online booking engine is great and you can get a free stop over on roundtrips - go see Vienna or Istanbul or Munich!
The reason most of us on this board do not find miles a good value for Economy class redemptions to India is that even in Economy, miles should be worth at least $0.015/mile, if not $0.02/mile for United miles, so it's just not that compelling usually. I've done it before when r/t fares have been in the $1,400 - $1,600 range and gotten decent value there. Miles are also useful when your dates may change.
Good luck!