India and Indonesia are forging a partnership designed for an era defined by resilient manufacturing, critical minerals and digital connectivity. The age when bilateral ties were judged by trade volumes and ceremonial diplomacy is fading. Today, the strength of a partnership is increasingly determined by who controls critical minerals, builds trusted digital networks and secures resilient supply chains. Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s recent visit to Indonesia captured this n

The repatriation of a centuries-old Kartikeya idol from Australia underscores the importance of ‘civilisational diplomacy’ on India’s part. India and Australia have spent the past two decades discovering that they have more in common than cricket, the Commonwealth and a shared affection for the Indian Ocean. What began as a cautious strategic courtship has matured into one of the Indo-Pacific's most consequential partnerships, spanning defence, critical minerals, education,

Prime Minister Narendra Modi's Independence Day assertion last year that "Haq ka pani" will serve Indian farmers marks a decisive shift in India's approach to the Indus Waters. Far from being a departure, it is a long-overdue correction of historical restraint that has disproportionately disadvantaged India while enabling persistent misuse downstream. It signals that India will no longer allow its rightful share of water to go underutilised and wasted while its own farmers fa

India’s BRICS presidency will be judged less by declarations than by its ability to translate ambition into economic cooperation. Following the BRICS Summit, attention has quickly shifted from the bloc’s expanding membership to India’s upcoming presidency. While BRICS now represents a larger share of the global economy than ever before, the question is no longer about whether the grouping matters, but whether it can deliver tangible economic outcomes. India’s presidency prese

As Asia’s strategic map shifts, India and Japan are discovering that their partnership is about far more than balancing China. There was a time when India and Japan viewed one another primarily through the prism of economics. Where Japan supplied capital, technology and development assistance, India offered a vast market and an expanding pool of skilled labour. But that largely transactional relationship now appears to be changing. Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi’s vis

As the Indo-Pacific enters an era of heightened geopolitical competition, India and South Korea are discovering that economic complementarity alone is no longer enough. For decades, India and South Korea have enjoyed cordial relations built upon commerce, investment and the success of Korean conglomerates in the Indian market. Yet, despite flourishing economic ties, the relationship often lacked strategic urgency. That complacency is no longer tenable. The Indo-Pacific has be

Though often grouped together as ‘nationalist strongmen,’ Narendra Modi and Donald Trump reveal strikingly different approaches to power, diplomacy and governance. Politics in the 21st century has become increasingly personalised. Institutions still matter, but voters often view governments through the prism of individual leaders rather than parties or policies. Few contemporary politicians illustrate this trend better than Donald Trump and Narendra Modi. Both have cultivated

As geopolitical uncertainty reshapes energy markets, India is rediscovering Venezuela as a useful partner in a pragmatic search for energy security. For much of the past decade, Venezuela occupied an awkward place in global diplomacy. Once one of the world’s richest oil producers, the South American nation became synonymous with economic collapse, hyperinflation, political turmoil and Western sanctions. While many countries kept their distance, India has never entirely severe

A cursory survey of the past decade would show that New Delhi has approached its neighbourhood with alternating bouts of confidence and anxiety. Confidence because India’s economic and geopolitical weight has steadily expanded. Anxiety because every election in South Asia in recent years seemed to produce a new leader who promised to stand up to India, reduce dependence on it or seek alternatives elsewhere - usually in China. Indian policymakers have been concerned that anti-

Amid a surge in online ‘anti-Indian’ narratives, Singapore’s decisive intervention has offered a model that many Western democracies have often shied away from. Last week, Singapore ordered three major social-media platforms to block access to 14 posts believed to have originated in China. The content allegedly targeted the Indian community and sought to chip away at the city-state’s carefully cultivated model of multiculturalism. The move was striking not only for its speed,

If India seeks deeper integration with Southeast Asia, Myanmar is the gateway through which those ambitions must pass. For all the attention lavished on the Indo-Pacific, Myanmar remains curiously underappreciated in India’s strategic imagination. Nestled between South Asia and Southeast Asia, Myanmar occupies a position that geographers would call fortunate and strategists indispensable. If India seeks deeper integration with Southeast Asia, greater influence in the Bay of B

India's diplomacy reflects its rise as an independent global power, balancing strategic partnerships, and resisting external pressure. The meeting of the foreign ministers of the QUAD nations at Hyderabad House in Delhi was far more than a routine diplomatic gathering. It marked a public declaration of the shifting global power structure and the emergence of India's new foreign policy doctrine. When External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar stated before US Secretary of State M

A small object changed hands in Abu Dhabi earlier this month, and almost no one paused to consider what it meant. Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, the President of the United Arab Emirates placed a silicon chip in Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s palm. It was a Cerebras chip given to the Indian Prime Minister as part of a bilateral agreement – a working piece of one of the most powerful artificial intelligence machines money can build, soon to be installed on Indian soil. That gest

As the war in West Asia continues to drive up crude prices and fiscal pressures, India’s economic resilience is being severely tested. AI generated image It has been nearly three months since the West Asian conflict began, and its ripple effects are striking us harder than the scorching summer sun in the subcontinent. The unfolding situation has already shaken the government’s risk management framework. For years, India benefited from a prolonged “Goldilocks” phase of economi

As Turkey grows closer to Pakistan and the Mediterranean gains geopolitical weight, India has discovered an unlikely but useful partner in Cyprus. In diplomacy, small states frequently become the hinges upon which larger geopolitical doors swing. Cyprus, a divided island in the eastern Mediterranean with barely 1.3 million people, is increasingly acquiring such importance. India, whose foreign policy has traditionally looked east towards Asia or west towards the Gulf, now app

Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s five nation tour in May has shifted traditional diplomatic relations to a strategic approach, during major global developments such as the West Asia energy crisis, post Operation Sindoor geopolitical tensions and changing global trade dynamics. The UAE visit focused on protecting India’s energy security over possible disruptions in the Strait of Hormuz which is the main global oil route. The ADNOC & ISPRL agreement of storing up to 30 million ba

For nearly half a decade, the global geopolitical landscape has been stuck in a state of permanent turbulence. The protracted war in Ukraine, the protectionist tariff regimes of the Trump presidency, and the volatile escalation of hostilities between the United States, Israel, and Iran are no longer distant regional frictions. Their tremors have rewritten the global order and weaponized transnational supply chains. In today’s splintered global order, nations are ruthlessly pr

Mumbai: Cyprus President Nikos Christodoulides described cinema as a powerful medium that transcends borders, connects cultures and introduces people to a country even before they visit it, here. Arriving in Mumbai on a 4-day State Visit to India, President Christodoulides unveiled the first-ever Indo-Cypriot joint film venture which will be shot in his country. “Film locations are deeply linked to identity, emotion and storytelling. Cyprus is an ‘open studio’ offering di

Trump’s Beijing summit revealed less a thaw in Sino-American rivalry than a quiet acknowledgement that the balance of power is shifting eastward. When Donald Trump recently left Beijing calling his summit with Xi Jinping “fantastic,” the pageantry suggested a diplomatic breakthrough. Yet, the summit produced few major agreements, while exposing how sharply the balance between the world’s two largest powers has changed. For decades America approached China as the stronger powe

From Majapahit to Pancasila, Java has repeatedly defended Indonesia’s plural ethos The last article discussed the conditions, apparently threatening the survival of the Indic thread of Indonesia’s culture, responding to many triggers including a penchant for Arabization of the hitherto localized ‘Indonesian Islam’. Given the size of this wide-spread archipelago called Indonesia, along with the more or less equally well-spread Islamist outlook within the society as well as the