In 2016 India became the world’s fastest growing large economy, overtaking China. India’s resurgence has renewed global interest in the geopolitical implications of India’s economic rise. Sanjaya Baru’s book explores India’s evolving geoeconomic relations with the West and with Asia, particularly China, in the aftermath of the global financial crisis of 2008-09.

These essays analyse the influence of business and trade on foreign policy, India’s approach to multilateralism and the relevance of regional trade integration for the Indian economy and South Asia. The essays were written after Baru served a term in the Prime Minister’s Office in New Delhi as a key advisor to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh during India’s negotiation of a civil nuclear energy agreement with the United States. They show the author’s intimate knowledge of India’s external economic policies, acquired from his vantage position as an influential newspaper editor and an advisor to the Prime Minister.