India In The Changing Global Order

With the world becoming increasingly multipolar along with the ascendance of China, India, too, can shape the emergent trends for its own benefits as a rising power by using its strategic location in Indian Ocean and working on its rich civilisational legacies, argues

- Vijay Kumar Kaul

The world system consisting of the global -economy, -business and -politics is shifting once again in the 21st century. The shift is associated with two major trends: first, advancement and combination of several technological developments in numerous areas such as digitalisation, artificial intelligence, robotics, nano and biotechnology, 3D printing, materials science, autonomous vehicles, energy storage and quantum computing; second, the reemergence of China as a strong economic and military power. The first change is associated with the fourth Industrial Revolution creating a possibility of connecting billions of people with mobile devices that have unprecedented computing power, large storage capacity and that provide unlimited access to knowledge. The second trend is a change in geopolitical configuration with a possibility of changing the global economic and political forces. Both these changes are going to transform the way we manage trade and business in the coming years.

What role can India play to shape the trends for its own benefits using its strategic location in Indian Ocean and its civilizational entity is an issue to be examined.