New Delhi has long resisted alignment with any single power bloc, maintaining active partnerships with the United States, Russia, the European Union, and the Gulf states simultaneously. This strategic posture — often described as "multi-alignment" — has allowed India to sustain energy imports from Russia while deepening defence cooperation with Washington, drawing criticism from both camps yet remaining a valued partner to each.
The approach is not new. India was a founding voice of the Non-Aligned Movement during the Cold War. What has changed is the scale of leverage New Delhi now commands. As one of the world's largest economies by purchasing power, a major arms importer transitioning toward domestic defence production, and the most populous nation on Earth, India carries significantly more weight than it did in earlier decades.
That weight is being used with increasing deliberateness. India has pressed for permanent membership in an expanded United Nations Security Council, arguing that the current structure reflects a post-1945 world order that no longer matches global realities. It has also used its presidencies of the G20 and the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation to shape multilateral agendas, inserting priorities around food security, digital infrastructure, and climate financing.
At the same time, New Delhi has been selective about which international norms it endorses. It abstained from UN votes condemning Russia's military actions in Ukraine, citing longstanding defence ties and energy dependencies, while simultaneously deepening trade and technology agreements with European partners critical of Moscow.
Border tensions with China remain unresolved, yet bilateral trade between the two countries continues to grow. Relations with Pakistan remain formally frozen across most channels, yet back-channel diplomacy persists through third-party mediators.
India's foreign policy establishment frames this approach as principled autonomy. Critics in Western capitals and in Beijing describe it as strategic opportunism. Either way, the result is a country that has made itself difficult to isolate and increasingly difficult to ignore.
Remaining Questions
Whether India's push for a permanent UN Security Council seat will gain sufficient support among current permanent members remains unresolved. It is also unclear how New Delhi will manage its multi-alignment posture if geopolitical polarisation between Washington and Beijing intensifies further.
Sources: United Nations General Assembly records; Council on Foreign Relations; Carnegie Endowment for International Peace; Ministry of External Affairs of India (mea.gov.in); Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI)
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