INDIA’S OUTLIER PHASE AND THE PATH FORWARD

In today’s world, India remains an outlier. Regional challenges and a focus on autonomy define how it engages globally, balancing influence with restraint & long-term caution

- LT GEN SYED ATA HASNAIN (RETD)

HE assertion that ‘in a new multipolar world, India is an outlier’ is an uncomfortable one, particularly for those who have long viewed India as an ascendant strategic power. Yet discomfort has value. It forces introspection, challenges assumptions and sharpens analysis. This article is not a rebuttal driven by sentiment, but an inquiry into whether India’s global positioning has limits—and if so, whether those limits are structural, self-imposed or transitional.

For much of the past two decades, India has been described—by itself and by others—as a rising power. Economic growth, demographic weight, military modernisation, and diplomatic reach have reinforced this belief. Yet recent developments invite a more sober assessment. India’s uneven visibility in Indo-Pacific deliberations, its absence from key Middle East peace initiatives, and a growing tendency among global powers to see India as important but not central raise legitimate questions about how India is positioned in today’s strategic order.

India’s strategic culture has always prized autonomy. During the Cold War, nonalignment preserved independence. In the post-Cold War unipolar moment, India avoided entanglement. Today, in a multipolar system, it continues to resist alliance. This instinct has served India well. It has allowed policy flexibility, insulated decision-making from external pressure, and prevented premature commitments.

But autonomy also carries costs. Global power management—particularly by the US—favours predictability and alignment. India offers convergence, not compliance. It is therefore valued, consulted and courted; but not always embedded at the centre of coalition politics. This creates a paradox: India is strategically significant, yet operationally peripheral in certain theatres.

In effect, India has chosen to remain outside rigid power blocs. That choice preserves sovereignty, but it also limits the roles others expect India to play.