Blog 10 - Can India Become a Soft-Power Superpower Again?
Updated: Jul 28
JOURNEY 4 - SERIES 2 - BLOG 10- A PART OF 10 BLOGS IN SERIES 2 - Reading time: 9 Mins
How an Ancient Civilisation Could Rebuild Its Global Influence Without Conquest
“India’s greatest empire was never defined by borders. It was built from ideas that other civilizations chose to adopt.”
For more than a thousand years, India shaped the world primarily through ideas rather than conquest. Buddhism travelled across Asia. Indian mathematics transformed humanity’s understanding of numbers through zero and the decimal place-value system. Medical traditions developed sophisticated approaches to health and surgery. Sanskrit carried literature, philosophy and scientific knowledge across vast distances. Indian merchants created enduring relationships through trade, while monks and scholars carried knowledge between civilizations. As I reached the end of my journey through India’s extraordinary influence on world history, I found myself asking a final question: could India become a soft-power superpower again?
The question matters because India has done it before. As I have explored throughout this Series, India’s greatest historical influence did not depend primarily upon conquering foreign territory. Buddhism was not imposed on China, Korea, Japan or Southeast Asia by Indian armies. Sanskrit was not spread across Asian royal courts by colonial occupation. Indian mathematical ideas were not adopted because foreign societies were forced to use them. These influences travelled because people recognised their value, adapted them and made them part of their own civilizations.
This is the essence of soft power: the ability to influence others through attraction rather than coercion. Military power can compel and economic power can pressure, but soft power works differently. It encourages people to study your ideas, adopt your technologies, enjoy your culture, trust your institutions and build relationships with your society. In many respects, India understood this principle more than two thousand years before the modern term was invented.
Today, India again possesses many of the ingredients required for global influence. It has a vast population, a major economy, an enormous global diaspora, internationally recognised scientific and technological capabilities and one of the richest cultural inheritances of any civilization on Earth. It is increasingly important in global politics, commerce, digital technology, pharmaceuticals and space exploration. Yet possessing these assets is not the same as converting them into lasting soft power. That, I believe, is India’s great opportunity—and its great challenge.
Modern India begins with an advantage few countries can match: it is already familiar to much of the world. Indian cinema reaches audiences far beyond the subcontinent. Indian cuisine has become part of everyday life in cities across the world. Yoga is practised internationally. Meditation traditions have influenced global approaches to wellbeing. Indian writers publish for worldwide audiences, while Indian music, fashion and festivals increasingly reach global audiences through digital platforms.
This cultural presence matters because soft power often begins with familiarity. A restaurant can create curiosity about a culture. A film can introduce a language. A novel can challenge stereotypes. A yoga class can create interest in Indian philosophy. These may appear to be small influences, but together they create an enormous web of cultural connection.
Yet I believe one of India’s greatest strategic assets is its global diaspora. Indian-origin scientists, doctors, engineers, academics, entrepreneurs and business leaders occupy influential positions across North America, Europe, Africa, the Middle East, Asia and the Pacific. Millions of families maintain relationships between India and the countries in which they live. Businesses connect markets, universities connect researchers and professional networks connect institutions.
Unlike an army or navy, a diaspora creates influence through human relationships. Governments may disagree, but families remain connected. Political alliances may change, but business partnerships can endure. University collaborations, professional networks and personal friendships often survive diplomatic tension. The diaspora therefore functions as a vast human bridge between India and the wider world.
The challenge is to avoid treating the diaspora merely as an extension of domestic politics or a source of investment and remittances. Its greatest value is broader. A confident global diaspora can help explain India to the world while also explaining the world to India. It can connect universities, support research, mentor entrepreneurs, build businesses and promote cultural understanding. If India approaches its diaspora with openness, it possesses a global network few countries can equal.
Historically, one of India’s greatest sources of soft power was education. Nalanda attracted scholars from across Asia because India possessed knowledge others wanted. Chinese pilgrims crossed deserts and mountains to study there. Students travelled enormous distances because Indian centres of learning offered intellectual opportunities unavailable elsewhere. That provides a direct lesson for modern India.
If India wants to become a soft-power superpower again, it must become one of the world’s great destinations for education.
A country becomes intellectually influential when talented young people voluntarily choose to study there. The United States built enormous global influence through its universities, while Britain continues to educate future leaders from around the world. Students who spend years in another country often develop professional networks, friendships and cultural understanding that last for decades.
India has the historical legitimacy to compete in this field, but history alone is not enough. A modern Nalanda cannot survive on nostalgia. India needs universities capable of attracting outstanding students and scholars from Africa, Southeast Asia, the Middle East, Central Asia and beyond. These institutions require world-class research, international faculty, transparent governance, academic freedom and genuine intellectual openness.
Imagine the long-term influence if tens of thousands of future scientists, ministers, doctors, engineers, entrepreneurs and teachers from developing countries chose to study in India. They would return home with professional relationships, personal friendships and direct knowledge of Indian society. This would recreate, in modern form, one of the most successful mechanisms of India’s ancient soft power.
Technology could become the new Golden Road.
The ancient Golden Road moved ideas through ports, monasteries, merchant networks and centres of learning. The modern Golden Road moves through digital platforms, universities, satellites, software and artificial intelligence. Knowledge can now cross continents in seconds.
India has already demonstrated considerable capability in information technology, pharmaceuticals, digital public infrastructure and space exploration. Its technology sector connects Indian expertise with global businesses, while Indian engineers and software specialists operate throughout the international economy. The country has also developed digital systems at immense scale.
This creates an opportunity extending beyond commercial success. If India can help other developing countries build affordable digital infrastructure, payment systems, identity platforms, healthcare technologies, educational tools and public services, it could create enormous goodwill. The key would be partnership rather than dependency: offering adaptable technologies that help countries solve their own problems.
The same principle applies to pharmaceuticals and healthcare. India has become a major producer of medicines and vaccines. For many developing countries, affordable healthcare is a daily necessity. A country that helps provide accessible medicines, medical training and public-health capability can build influence at a profoundly human level.
Space exploration offers another extraordinary opportunity. The achievements of the Indian Space Research Organisation have strengthened India’s international reputation because they combine scientific ambition with cost-conscious innovation. Yet the greatest soft-power potential may come not simply from spectacular missions, but from sharing space-based capabilities.
Satellites can support weather forecasting, communications, agriculture, disaster management and environmental monitoring. If Indian expertise helps vulnerable countries predict cyclones, monitor crops, manage water or respond to natural disasters, scientific achievement becomes international partnership. India’s scientific ambition could therefore become one of the strongest foundations of a modern Golden Road.
Culture remains equally important. India possesses a civilizational depth few countries can match. Its literature, philosophy, music, dance, architecture, religions, languages and artistic traditions stretch across thousands of years. Yet India must be careful not to confuse possession of a great past with possession of modern soft power.
History is an asset only when converted into contemporary relevance.
The world will not admire India simply because Indians assert that their civilization is ancient. Soft power emerges when people outside a country voluntarily engage with what that civilization offers today. Ancient philosophy becomes influential when it speaks to modern ethical questions. Traditional medicine gains respect when claims are tested through rigorous science. Classical literature becomes globally relevant when translated and made accessible. Historical achievements inspire when they encourage contemporary creativity rather than national self-congratulation.
This distinction is critical. India does not need to invent a civilizational identity from nothing. But the strongest civilizations are confident enough to examine both their achievements and failures. Intellectual openness creates credibility. Excessive claims weaken it.
Democracy could also become an important source of Indian soft power. India’s experience of maintaining a vast, diverse and multilingual political system is historically remarkable. Few countries have attempted democratic government across such immense differences of language, religion, region, caste, class and culture.
Yet democratic soft power depends upon credibility. A country cannot simply declare itself democratic and expect admiration. It must demonstrate the strength of its institutions, the independence of public debate, the protection of minorities, the rule of law and the ability of citizens to disagree without being treated as enemies of the state.
For me, this is one of the central tensions in India’s future. National confidence can strengthen a country, but nationalism can also narrow its appeal. India’s ancient influence was powerful partly because other civilizations could adopt Indian ideas without becoming Indian. Buddhism became Chinese, Japanese, Tibetan, Sri Lankan and Southeast Asian. Sanskrit concepts entered local languages. Hindu traditions were reshaped in Bali and Cambodia. Indian ideas travelled because they could be adapted.
A modern India will exercise the greatest influence when it displays the same confidence. Soft power grows when ideas are offered rather than imposed.
India’s relationships with the developing world may therefore become particularly important. Across Africa, Southeast Asia, the Pacific and parts of the Middle East, countries are seeking development partnerships that respect sovereignty while providing practical benefits. India can offer a distinctive experience because it has confronted the challenges of poverty reduction, mass education, public health, infrastructure and digital transformation across an enormous population.
India does not need to present itself as a perfect model. Its strength lies in practical experience. It understands the difficulty of delivering services at scale and the tensions between growth and inequality, tradition and modernity, rural life and urbanisation. This gives India the potential to become a partner whose influence comes from shared challenges rather than superiority.
As I reached the end of this journey through India’s influence on world history, I became convinced that the central question is not whether India can become powerful. Its population, economy, military capability and strategic location make greater power increasingly likely. The more important question is what kind of power India chooses to become.
If India relies primarily on nationalism, strategic rivalry and assertions of ancient greatness, its influence may remain limited by suspicion and political division. Military strength may command respect, but it cannot create affection. Economic size may create dependence, but it cannot guarantee trust. National pride may inspire domestic audiences, but it does not automatically persuade the wider world.
If instead India invests in education, scientific research, cultural openness, digital innovation, international partnerships and institutions that attract people voluntarily, it could rebuild something resembling the Golden Road.
A modern Golden Road would not be a single trade route. It would be a global network of Indian universities, research partnerships, digital platforms, cultural institutions, diaspora relationships, development programmes, scientific collaborations and businesses. Students would travel to India for education. Researchers would collaborate with Indian laboratories. Developing countries would adopt Indian technologies because they were affordable and useful. Audiences would engage with Indian films, books and music because they found them compelling. Governments would seek Indian partnership because they trusted its intentions.
For more than a thousand years, India helped shape the world without conquering it. Its merchants built relationships. Its monks carried beliefs. Its scholars shared knowledge. Its mathematicians transformed calculation. Its physicians developed medical traditions. Its languages preserved ideas. Its universities attracted students from distant civilizations.
The ancient Golden Road succeeded because India produced knowledge the world wanted.
A modern Golden Road must do the same.
India will not become a true soft-power superpower simply by becoming richer, more populous or more militarily capable. Nor will it achieve global influence by repeatedly asserting the greatness of its ancient civilization. Lasting influence will come when people around the world actively choose Indian universities, technologies, ideas, cultural products and institutions.
That is the lesson I take from India’s own history.
The greatest power is not always the ability to make others obey. Sometimes it is the ability to make others want to learn from you.
India has done that before.
The question now is whether it can do it again.
3 Key Takeaways
India has already demonstrated the power of influence without conquest. For more than a thousand years, India shaped other civilizations through Buddhism, mathematics, medicine, Sanskrit literature, philosophy, trade and cultural exchange. As William Dalrymple shows in The Golden Road, India’s greatest historical strength was its ability to produce ideas that other societies voluntarily adopted and adapted.
India already possesses the foundations of a modern soft-power superpower. Its global diaspora, technology sector, cinema, cuisine, yoga traditions, scientific capability, space programme and immense cultural inheritance give India advantages few countries can match. The opportunity now is to transform these separate strengths into coherent global influence built on education, innovation, trust and international partnership.
India’s future influence will depend on attraction, not assertions of greatness. Economic size, military strength and nationalism alone cannot create soft power. India will become a true soft-power superpower only when people around the world actively choose its universities, technologies, ideas, cultural products and institutions. The ancient Golden Road succeeded because India produced knowledge the world wanted. A modern Golden Road must do the same.
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