How India can reframe global economic cooperation in a multipolar world

India seeks to convene, align and anchor a shifting global order by building platforms where governments, capital and enterprise forge the partnerships shaping future prosperity

India has recently concluded a historic Free Trade Agreement with the European Union and secured a significant trade arrangement with the United States — two deals that together reshape India’s access to the world’s largest economies. The India–EU free trade agreement alone creates a free trade zone spanning $24 trillion in combined gross domestic product (GDP) and two billion people. It grants India preferential access to European markets across 97 per cent of tariff lines while securing enhanced market access for European Union businesses in India’s rapidly growing economy.

 

The impending India–US trade deal, meanwhile, demonstrates how tariff policy has become an instrument of geopolitical alignment, with the United States offering relief in exchange for India’s energy diversification and deeper integration into resilient supply chains.

 

 

Seen together, these developments illustrate a fundamental shift: Economic cooperation is now viewed as deliberate, sustained, and anchored in trust between governments, investors, and industry leaders. The structural shifts underway require a new approach in which economic diplomacy serves as a strategic tool for growth, resilience, and stability.

 

Priority sectors at the intersection of opportunity and risk

 

The areas most critical to future global growth and stability sit at the intersection of opportunity and risk. Infrastructure financing and economic corridors; advanced manufacturing and logistics; energy transition and sustainability; emerging technologies and digital systems; and resilient, diversified supply chains are all central to growth. Economic corridors must evolve from being merely trade routes to becoming conduits of cooperation in these areas. This requires bringing leadership, capital, and industry into structured engagement to translate dialogue into action.

 

India, the fulcrum of the global transformation

 

As economic gravity shifts east, India is uniquely positioned to serve as the fulcrum of this transformation, combining scale, growth, democratic institutions, and policy continuity. India is a connector economy, bridging advanced and emerging markets, public policy and private capital, and global ambition with on-ground execution.

 

India’s credibility as a convenor stems from its reform trajectory, its expanding role in global supply chains, and its ability to engage constructively across geopolitical blocs. The country’s expanding manufacturing base, digital public infrastructure, robust policy environment, and standing in the global community position it as a hub for investment, innovation, and wealth creation.

 

Central to India’s philosophy of Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam (the world as one family) is the recognition that economic cooperation must create space for both emerging economies and the developed world to find pathways towards joint prosperity.

 

This approach aligns with India’s long-term vision of Viksit Bharat 2047, positioning economic cooperation as a driver of shared prosperity. By integrating trade, economic, and investment diplomacy, India seeks to chart its role as a connector economy and conveyor of global consensus, serving both national interest and global stability.

 

India, indispensable in this changing global dynamic, convenes more purposefully with governments, investors, and industry leaders to shape practical pathways for cooperation across capital, infrastructure, technology, and energy, reflecting the realities of a multipolar world.

 

From dialogue to outcomes

 

Success must be measured by partnerships and relationships that endure. These must translate into outcomes: New cross-border investment and trade partnerships across priority sectors; alignment on policy frameworks for emerging and future-facing industries; strengthened bilateral and multilateral economic relationships; and enhanced visibility for strategic economic gateways that support long-term capital inflows and partnership-led growth.

 

Building institutional continuity

 

For economic diplomacy to move from episodic to sustained, it must be institutionalised. What is needed are platforms that continue to evolve in response to global shifts, ensuring relevance and continuity of participation from partner countries and institutions. The objective must be to create forums that foster trust, shape cooperation, and deliver measurable economic outcomes across regions.

 

This calls for ecosystems of engagement. It also means investing in the next generation of economic leadership. Engaging young business minds and future leaders through curated discussions on global economic change and innovation ensures that the frameworks built today have champions tomorrow. Collaboration with leading academic institutions helps nurture leaders who understand both the technical complexities and the diplomatic nuances of economic cooperation.

 

The path forward

 

The choices made now will shape prosperity, stability, and opportunity for generations. International forums designed with this logic can achieve tangible outcomes: Cross-border investment and trade partnerships that move beyond agreements to actual capital commitments; policy alignment in emerging sectors where regulatory frameworks are still being established and early coordination prevents fragmentation; deeper bilateral and multilateral economic ties built on shared infrastructure projects; and enhanced visibility for emerging investment gateways that can fuel further economic growth by attracting the next wave of manufacturing relocation and technology development.

 

As the global economy transforms, India’s answer is to convene, to align, and to act as an anchor in an international system — creating platforms where governments, capital, and enterprise can forge partnerships that will define the next era of global prosperity.

 

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The author is Founder, Vishwamitra Research Foundation; Director, Future Economic Cooperation Council (FECC)

 

Disclaimer: These are personal views of the writer. They do not necessarily reflect the opinion of www.business-standard.com or the Business Standard newspaper