Beyond growth, India’s task is to help shape the world

We are living through a time when old assumptions are being tested. Countries are rethinking where they source from, where they invest, whom they trust and how they build resilience. The world is not becoming simpler. That is why India’s position matters. It has strong relationships with advanced economies but also carries credibility with the Global South. It understands the aspirations of developing countries because it is still living many of them itself. At the same time, it has the ambition, capability and institutional weight to contribute meaningfully to global conversations. That combination is not common.

India is home to more than one-sixth of the world’s population but accounts for a much smaller share of global trade. The opportunity now is to bridge that gap. The coming decades will be defined by how effectively India converts demographic scale into economic influence and domestic strength into global relevance.

The idea of Viksit Bharat captures that larger aspiration. It is a statement of intent about the kind of country India wants to become when it completes 100 years of Independence. A bigger economy, certainly. But also, a more capable, confident, inclusive and globally respected one.

To achieve that, capital will matter. India will need investment in infrastructure, manufacturing, clean energy, cities, technology and enterprise. But capital alone is never enough. It must move into the right places, at the right pace, with the confidence that rules are stable and opportunities are real. Countries that can attract long-term capital and put it to productive use will help define the next phase of global growth.

We can already see this in the way India is being viewed by companies and governments looking for new growth corridors. The India–EU Free Trade Agreement is a useful example: Two large democratic partners choosing to deepen economic ties at a time when the global order is being reshaped. For India, it strengthens links with a major advanced market. For Europe, it offers a deeper partnership with a country that is central to Asia’s growth and to the wider search for resilient supply chains.

Capability is another integral element of the story. India’s demographic dividend has long been acknowledged as its biggest strength. However, India’s long-term competitiveness will be determined by how effectively it converts its demographic strength into innovation, enterprise and broad-based prosperity.

Today, the gap between average incomes and the incomes of middle-income households suggests that the gains from growth are not reaching all sections of society equally. Creating productive, formal and better-paying jobs must therefore remain a priority, alongside strengthening manufacturing, improving productivity and building globally competitive businesses. As technology and AI reshape industries, success will depend not just on the size of our talent pool, but on the quality of skills, education and healthcare that support it.

India’s advantage is that its domestic journey and global role are now deeply connected. The stronger India becomes at home, the more useful it becomes to the world. And the more deeply it engages with the world, the more pathways it opens for its own people.

As India enters its ninth decade of Independence, its task is not simply to participate in global growth. It is to help shape it. The first 80 years were about securing India’s place in the world. The years ahead are about defining what India does with that place. That may ultimately be India’s most important contribution: Not just becoming one of the world’s largest economies but becoming one of its most relevant.

The writer is CEO, Deutsche Bank Group India & Emerging Asia