India’s Soft Power in the Global South: A Silent Surge

In the corridors of Lusaka and Lima, Addis Ababa and Hanoi, a quiet transformation is unfolding. It does not announce itself with ideological manifestos or military posturing. Instead, it arrives with yoga mats, Bollywood reels, digital payments, and Ayurvedic oils. It speaks English and Hindi in equal measure. And it listens before it lectures.

This is India’s soft power at work—subtle, persistent, and increasingly potent across the Global South. While the term “soft power” often conjures images of American fast food chains or K-pop sweeping the world, India’s version is distinct: civilisational rather than cultural, pluralistic rather than performative. It stems less from manufactured exports and more from a lived inheritance—one that draws as much from Gandhi and Tagore as it does from contemporary tech diplomacy.

From Non-Alignment to Multi-Alignment

India’s credibility in the Global South is not new, but it has matured. The memory of the Non-Aligned Movement and the moral authority of decolonisation have long earned India a listening ear in Africa, Southeast Asia, and Latin America. What’s different today is that New Delhi no longer positions itself merely as a bridge between the East and the West. It now speaks as a representative of the Global South itself, unapologetically and without intermediaries.

This was evident during India’s G20 presidency in 2023. New Delhi placed the concerns of the Global South—climate finance, food security, digital inclusion—at the centre of global discussions. The “Voice of the Global South” summit that preceded the G20 was more than symbolic. It reasserted India’s self-appointed role as convener-in-chief of a non-Western consensus, without rejecting engagement with the West.

Cultural Resonance, Not Cultural Imperialism

Unlike China’s Confucius Institutes or America’s university campuses abroad, India’s cultural diplomacy operates on a looser, more organic wavelength. It does not attempt to standardise “Indianness,” but rather lets it express itself through shared affinities—whether it’s the popularity of Hindi films in Nigeria, Tamil epics in Indonesia, or Ayurveda in Kenya.

Yoga is the most visible manifestation of this appeal. Once an elite export, it is now a mass global phenomenon, practiced in cities and villages across continents. The declaration of June 21 as the International Day of Yoga was not just a UN achievement—it marked a turning point in India’s ability to project its heritage as universal rather than nationalist.

India’s soft power thrives in contradiction. It is both ancient and digital, spiritual and entrepreneurial. The same country that offers Varanasi’s riverfront rituals also leads the world in digital public infrastructure like Aadhaar and UPI, systems now being adapted in Africa and Southeast Asia.

Education and Technical Cooperation: A Long Bet

Beyond symbolism, India’s soft power architecture is underpinned by decades of quiet investments in education, training, and development cooperation. The Indian Technical and Economic Cooperation (ITEC) programme, launched in 1964, has trained over 200,000 professionals from over 160 countries in everything from IT to agriculture. The program is rarely advertised, but its impact is deep. Many African bureaucrats, Southeast Asian technocrats, and Latin American researchers have spent months or years in Indian institutions.

Indian universities too, despite their flaws, are becoming destinations of choice for students from the Global South. From Kabul to Kampala, New Delhi is seen not as an aspirational West, but as a functional model—messy, democratic, and relatable. India’s strengths in English-language education, medicine, and low-cost engineering make it a natural hub for Southern knowledge exchange.

The creation of scholarships under the ICCR (Indian Council for Cultural Relations), expansion of diplomatic outreach, and the growing footprint of India’s think tanks—such as ORF, RIS, and the India Foundation—are contributing to a thicker cultural and intellectual presence abroad.

Tech for Trust

In an era where digital authoritarianism is rising and technology is being weaponised, India’s export of digital public goods—like UPI, DigiLocker, and CoWIN—offers an alternative model: open-source, scalable, and non-imperial.

India is now helping countries like Mauritius, Sri Lanka, and the Philippines build inclusive digital infrastructure. The India Stack model is becoming a blueprint for the Global South, and it comes without strings attached. No debt traps. No covert surveillance. Just a willingness to share.

This digital diplomacy is new but promising. It blends India's strengths in software and frugal innovation with its moral claim to inclusivity. Unlike China’s infrastructure diplomacy, which is often associated with extractive investments, India’s “digital public infrastructure diplomacy” promises empowerment.

The Trust Dividend

Why does this matter? Because trust is the true currency of soft power.

India’s contradictions—democracy with chaos, growth with inequality, tradition with modernity—make it more believable than models of sterile perfection. India does not offer itself as a template, but as a companion in the shared journey of development. It does not claim to be a success story, but rather a work-in-progress that others can relate to.

This trust was visible during the pandemic. India’s “Vaccine Maitri” initiative, through which it shipped millions of doses to countries in Africa, Latin America, and Asia, was not an act of charity but one of solidarity. It earned gratitude—and more importantly, credibility—in places where vaccine nationalism had betrayed moral claims by the West.

Not Without Limits

To be sure, India’s soft power is not limitless. Its domestic challenges—religious polarisation, press freedoms, educational quality—do not go unnoticed. Critics rightly point out that India’s image abroad cannot be divorced from realities at home.

Moreover, India’s diaspora, often cited as a pillar of soft power, is a double-edged sword. While it has produced tech CEOs and Nobel laureates, it also hosts some of the most vocal critics of New Delhi’s domestic policies. Maintaining soft power abroad while managing democratic anxieties at home is a tightrope walk.

But soft power is not about perfection. It’s about perception. And right now, India’s perception in the Global South is rising, not falling.

Conclusion: A Civilisational Foreign Policy

India’s greatest strength in the Global South is not its GDP, its military, or even its democracy. It is its ability to resonate. To be seen as one of us, not one above us. That is a rare asset in a polarised, post-Western world.

If Delhi can maintain humility while asserting influence, and if it can keep offering partnership over paternalism, the 21st century might not just belong to Asia—it might belong, in part, to India.

Not because it shouts the loudest. But because it listens the best.