Reports

Before coronavirus hit, New Delhi had an ambitious budget plan for the 2020-2021 fiscal year. Today, India’s government has a third of the economy under lockdown and strives to preserve the country’s development momentum. Some powerful factors are working in India’s favor, but others could drag it down. 

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi wants to make an imprint on the economy, ideology and welfare. In all three policy areas, he is facing increasing resistance. Moreover, his long-stated goal of reversing decades of increased central authority seems to have been discarded. Add to this the rising prominence of Hindu ...

The burgeoning relationship with the United States is a crucial part of India’s foreign policy. With the election of Donald Trump as president, New Delhi was unsure what to expect. So far, it has leveraged its strategic importance and the leaders’ friendship to its benefit. And while trade remains a ...

The rise of China and the changes in U.S. policy brought by President Donald Trump have presented huge challenges for both Europe and India. Their interests align on some major issues, including international trade and combatting climate change. In the face of Brexit, India has also sought to bolster ties ...

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who currently enjoys high levels of trust among world leaders, wants to make the most of this advantageous situation by simultaneously engaging with the U.S., China and other strategic geopolitical partners, in addition to fostering better relations with smaller South Asian neighbors.

For decades, India’s posture on the contested state of Jammu and Kashmir has been relatively stable, allowing autonomy in the region and seeking an agreement with Islamabad. Relations with Sunni Kashmiris have increasingly frayed, however, and Prime Minister Narendra Modi has begun to shift its policy radically. India has ended ...

The world is rightly concerned about China’s violation of Hong Kong’s autonomy – but such moves are not limited to authoritarian regimes. India, the world’s largest democracy, has recently abolished autonomy for the region of Jammu and Kashmir. The situation there deserves even more attention since the region is at ...

As the U.S.-China trade dispute drags on, Washington is gearing up to turn the screws on another trade partner: India. Though the countries are allies, U.S. officials chafe at India’s protectionist policies. Sorting out this imbroglio will be among the Indian government’s top priorities – an escalatory tariff war could ...

The conflict over Kashmir has led to three wars and countless skirmishes between India and Pakistan. As tensions are building up again in the region, outside powers cooperate to prevent the worst. However, Washington’s and Beijing’s influence over the decision-making process of the two nuclear weapons-armed states may be gradually ...

The latest round of fighting on the India-Pakistan border reveals a changed mood in New Delhi. Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s decision to order an air strike deep inside Pakistan in reprisal for a terrorist attack is evidence of a more muscular policy taking shape. If Mr. Modi is reelected in ...

The mountainous border between India, China and Pakistan is a dangerously underestimated trouble spot that could wreak havoc between Asia's two emerging superpowers.

Ahead of parliamentary elections this spring, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has reinvented himself. Putting aside earlier economic reforms, his talk is mostly about social welfare. While the Indian leader focuses on wooing small-town voters, his government has put most foreign policy initiatives on hold. Whether Mr. Modi’s ruling BJP wins ...

The Indian government has taken a protectionist posture on trade, taking measures to boost domestic manufacturing, hike tariffs and stall trade negotiations. Yet exports have failed to increase, in part because of red tape and poor logistics. The administration’s present attitude could see India struggle with the current account deficit ...

Japan and India are fast becoming close partners. Small wonder: the two countries both want to counteract China's rise, especially in the Indian Ocean. The countries have strengthened economic and military ties, and together could challenge China at sea. As Beijing attempts to project its power ever further, the Indo-Japanese ...

The Modi government in India enters the last year of its term with mixed economic results. The prime minister has moderated inflation and carried out important reforms, but growth remains slow and many Indians are pessimistic about their financial situation. With elections coming next April and several external threats on ...

In late April, Chinese President Xi Jinping and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi held an “informal summit” during which they reached a tacit understanding to turn down the heat on their countries’ contentious relationship. Both leaders have many more urgent issues on their plates, and need room to maneuver. But ...

India has recently elevated its relationships with the United Arab Emirates, Israel and Iran, increasing its influence in the Middle East. But New Delhi has always preferred keeping the explosive region at arm’s length by dealing with only a few bilateral relationships. The Middle East’s shifting dynamics may make that ...

As the ratio of nonperforming assets in India’s banking sector rises, there have been loud calls for reform. The condition of loan portfolios at state-controlled banks is now so parlous that it is choking off the availability of new credit and forcing the government into ever more ambitious recapitalization schemes. ...

India is happy that the United States has recommitted to fighting the Taliban in Afghanistan. Keeping them out of power will limit the influence of India’s longtime rival, Pakistan. But the U.S. commitment is tenuous, and President Donald Trump is a known skeptic of the war. Russian and Iranian support ...

Over the past 15 years, India has elevated many of its relationships with countries in the Middle East to “strategic partnerships.” But how much substance is there to that moniker? Energy is the driving force behind the phenomenon: Indian demand for fossil fuels is rising sharply, while Middle Eastern countries ...

India’s food output has nearly quadrupled over the past 50 years, but farm households – more than half the country’s population – are in some ways worse off. Rural distress is weighing on the country’s politics and eroding the government’s political base. If India wants to follow the path of ...

The military showdown between unarmed Chinese and Indian troops on the Doklam Plateau in the Himalayas is different than previous border tiffs in the region between these two Asian giants. The new dimensions reflect a changing relationship between Beijing and New Delhi, as both gain international clout. The current crisis ...

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi came to power under the slogan “the business of government is not business,” but his administration has been slow in privatizing or “disinvesting” from the hundreds of inefficient companies owned by the state. In fact, it has moved actively to maximize the revenue the government ...

India and Germany may seem like an odd couple. But a recent flurry of diplomatic consultations suggest that the two countries may be beginning to form a strategic relationship. What animates them is a belief that second-tier powers need to work more closely together to shore up an international order ...