The rise of India, the new giant of the Asian continent

India has presided the G20, the group of the world's twenty largest economies, since December 2022. The country organized a summit for the group in Delhi in September 2023.

The G20 summit is an opportunity to show the world its newfound power. Seventy-five years after its independence from the United Kingdom, the country has grown significantly.

Thanks to its demographic weight and sustained economic dynamism, India has become a major geopolitical player in recent years.

From the start of the G20 presidency, Prime Minister Narendra Modi (in the photo) said he wanted to rebalance international relations in favor of the global south, which he might expect to lead.

The country is also an essential member of the BRICS group, including China, Russia, Brazil, and South Africa. This year, a group was revitalized by a summit in South Africa and the addition of several new nations, including the United Arab Emirates.

China struggles with increasing isolation linked to its aggressive stance towards Taiwan and persistent economic problems. Therefore, India could take the leading position in Asia and lead the emerging countries.

New Delhi also intelligently mediates between the large blocs, being both a Western-style parliamentary democracy and an emerging Asian country.

The war in Ukraine has also strengthened this position: India condemned the invasion but has not renounced trading weapons and raw materials with Russia.

French International Radio described the ability by recalling that the country is a member of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, headed by Russia and China, and the QUAD, led by the United States, to counterbalance China's influence in the Asia-Pacific.

With around 1.5 billion inhabitants, India is expected to overtake China as the most populous country in the world this year.

Furthermore, the South Asian giant is now the fifth largest economy in the world, ahead of the UK, its former colonizer.

And the robustness of growth is striking in a gloomy global economic context. In the 2022-2023 fiscal year, India's GDP grew by 7.2%, and the Reserve Bank of India expects a figure of 6.5% for 2023-2024.

The rapid growth is projecting India to become the second economy in the world by 2075, below China and over the US. According to data by Goldman Sachs, it will surpass Japan by 2030 and the Euro Area by the 2050s.

Despite this economic leap forward, member of parliament and political leader P. Chidambaram told Bussines today that India has the lowest per capita income of the G20.

According to the Congress member, 50% of the country's population has 3% of the country's wealth, showing how growth has not reduced inequalities.

Goldman Sachs analysts explained that India’s growth has been mainly driven by domestic consumption. However, the development of free trade agreements, particularly with the European Union, may change this.

Service exports and labor have also helped balance India's macro economy. The country is a gigantic reservoir of cheap, English-speaking, highly qualified labor, particularly in the digital field.

Still, Goldman Sachs experts say that labor force participation is an opportunity for the country, especially women's further integration into the productive sector. Low participation could slow down the growth.

Another factor in the current Indian boom is the country's rapid modernization, which is investing massively to catch up in infrastructure.

The country's space program is an example of technological and infrastructure advancements. On August 23, an Indian rocket landed on the Moon. Only the United States, Russia, and China have achieved this.

Goldman Sachs also lists renewable energies as an opportunity to enlarge the Indian economy. The country is pushing electric vehicles and green hydrogen.

Between its economic and scientific successes and its rise in power at the international level, Indian power no longer hides its grand ambitions.

The nation has the added benefit of being in the Asia-Pacific, the fastest-growing region of the world economy, S&P Global’s Asia-Pacific chief economist told CNBC.