“India wins yet again!” Narendra Modi announced in May 2019, just after securing a second term as Prime Minister of the world’s largest democracy in a landslide general elections victory. When Modi was elected for a first term five years ago, he promised that India would win back its place at the high table of leading world powers. Indeed, after decades of sustained growth, India today is at a tipping point in terms of socio-economic prospects for its 1.35 billion citizens. As the global balance of power and economic growth shifts towards Asia, and a whole new set of forces is seeking to redefine the international order, opportunities abound for the subcontinent to carve out its place as a leading, democratic, global actor. Is India ready to do so?
Table of Contents
Introduction,
Paolo Magri
1. India’s Turn: Groundbreaking Reforms for a Global India
Gautam Chikermane, Observer Research Foundation
2. How Solid Is India’s Economy?
Bidisha Ganguly, Confederation of Indian Industry
3. Defining the Indian Middle Class
Antonio Armellini, Former Ambassador to India
4. Inequality: Global India’s Domestic Bottleneck?
Nicola Missaglia, ISPI
5. A “Paper Tiger”? What India Wants to Be(come)
Abhijit Iyer-Mitra, Institute of Peace and Conflict Studies
6. Facing Global China: India and the Belt and Road Initiative
Christian Wagner, SWP Berlin
7. India, Europe and Italy: Time to Boost Partnership
Claudio Maffioletti, Indo-Italian Chamber of Commerce and Industry
