I totally agree with brainjuice that “Delhi airport authorities are the stupidest and most uncivilized people on this planet” but I think most of the Delhities if not all are the same. They are ill mannered people. Even ours is not 100% free of corruption and tourist friendly …I don’t have to describe what goes inside our airport. Sum! What I would suggest is to: be in the transit and everything will go fine. And about your question…No, you don’t have to pick up your luggage in transit. Usually, they are totally different places. If you are a transit bound passenger you don’t have to pick up the luggage. Your airline will pick it up for you (manual or automatic). Your luggage should be tagged from US (State) -KTM. So don’t worry about it. As Birkhe said “you do need to verify and confirm that it is yours”. Please check this with your travel agent, and don’t be hesitant to ask while boarding the flight here in the US. Have a good one :]