Is India Becoming A Superpower?

State of Asia

India is having an eventful year. It led the G20, worked to welcome more members into the BRICS, and it landed on the moon. Despite persisting domestic issues, from economic inequality to shrinking civil liberties, India is thriving in its foreign relations – which may help Prime Minister Modi, as he gears up for elections due next spring.
India has an ambitious goal: to become the world's third largest economy and to emerge as a geopolitical superpower. Will it be able to deliver on that growth and ambition?

In this bonus episode of STATE OF ASIA, listen to four experts debate whether India will become a global superpower in the next decade, or see itself crippled by the many obstacles it still faces. The debaters, who presented clear-cut, time-constrained, well-thought-out arguments in an Oxford Debate we hosted on November 2, 2023, are:

• Frédéric Grare, senior policy fellow with the Asia Program at the European Council on Foreign Relations.
• Yamini Aiyar, President and Chief Executive at the independent Center for Policy Research in New Delhi.
• Garima Mohan, who heads the India Trilateral Forum at the German Marshall Fund.
• Rathin Roy, managing director of independent global think tank ODI.

Watch the entire debate here, and learn more about the speakers, on our website.

Our Oxford Debate series offers insights into complex issues, presented in short and clear arguments. Find all the debates here.
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STATE OF ASIA is a podcast from Asia Society Switzerland.
Season 5, bonus episode 2 - Published: November 7, 2023
Host and Producer: Remko Tanis, Programs and Editorial Manager, Asia Society Switzerland

Chapters

1. Welcome (00:00:00)

2. Opening statement: India will be a superpower (00:01:55)

3. Opening statement: Obstacles in India's way (00:05:30)

4. First rebuttal: Why India will be a superpower (00:10:17)

5. Second rebuttal: India has yet to deal with many issues (00:13:58)

6. Closing statement: India is the next superpower (00:18:35)

7. Closing statement: India is not on track just yet (00:21:11)

8. Closing statement: India's rise is a given (00:23:00)

9. Closing statement: India's too dramatic to be a superpower (00:25:04)

10. More info, and a look ahead (00:27:23)