Damaged reputation

India's Covid crisis has implications for supply chain and soft power

The exploding number of Covid-19 cases in India, together with the stretching of the health care system in large parts of the country, has led to not just a humanitarian catastrophe but also severely strained global trade and indeed India’s worldwide soft power. India is deeply involved in providing both labour and goods for many of the world’s most crucial industries. One such, the shipping industry, has only just recovered from a week-long obstruction in the Suez Canal. But now Indian crew members — and indeed crew members of other nationalities who serve in ships with Indian crew or that