CHALLENGES OF INDIA'S GLOBAL EMERGENCE

This article examines the opportunities and constraints accompanying India’s bid for greater global influence in the 2010s. It reviews economic fundamentals, demographic momentum, and technology capacity alongside persistent challenges in infrastructure, labor-market formality, and state capacity. The analysis tracks foreign-policy balancing—managing relations with the United States, Russia, and China—while engaging regional institutions and the Indian Ocean littoral. It also explores how energy security, maritime posture, and non-traditional security threats shape New Delhi’s choices. The abstract highlights that while India’s growth and soft-power assets are enabling wider diplomatic reach, governance bottlenecks, uneven human development, and strategic resource vulnerabilities could temper the trajectory unless addressed through structural reforms and credible coalition building.

The body situates India’s rise historically and compares growth, savings, and innovation indicators with peer economies. It scrutinizes constraints: logistics costs, urban congestion, electricity reliability, and skills gaps that limit manufacturing depth and export diversification. In security, the paper analyzes the maritime turn to the Indo-Pacific, naval modernization, and multilateral habits in the Quad and IORA, set against contested borders and episodic crises. The diplomatic section assesses agenda setting in climate negotiations, peacekeeping, and development finance, noting reputational strengths from diaspora networks and information services. Domestic politics are treated as a key variable shaping reform velocity—from tax harmonization to land and labor regulation. Scenario analysis contrasts an “infrastructure-accelerated” pathway that crowds-in investment with a “stalling reforms” path of middling growth and strategic overreach. The conclusion argues that sustained institutional reforms, supply-chain integration, and credible neighborhood engagement are preconditions for translating potential into durable global influence.