Prime Minister Narendra Modi's attendance at the G7 Summit in Evian, France, underscores India's growing global influence and its role in articulating the priorities of the Global South, with discussions encompassing critical issues like climate governance, AI, and development finance. While India's engagement signifies its integration into advanced economies' deliberations, it faces a strategic imperative to advance its own economic and geopolitical interests, particularly amidst Western expectations for a clearer stance on the Ukraine conflict and relations with Russia, prompting a debate on India's multipolarity approach and the perception of strategic ambiguity. The summit, though a platform for dialogue, is noted for its limited substantive outcomes for non-member nations, highlighting India's potential to bridge divides between East and West and contribute to global governance, especially in the Indo-Pacific region, by leveraging its participation in diverse forums like G20, BRICS, SCO, and Quad to foster common interests and achieve tangible policy outcomes in areas such as technology transfer and market access.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi's attendance at the G7 Summit in Evian, France, underscores India's growing global influence and its role in articulating the priorities of the Global South, with discussions encompassing critical issues like climate governance, AI, and development finance. While India's engagement signifies its integration into advanced economies' deliberations, it faces a strategic imperative to advance its own economic and geopolitical interests, particularly amidst Western expectations for a clearer stance on the Ukraine conflict and relations with Russia, prompting a debate on India's multipolarity approach and the perception of strategic ambiguity. The summit, though a platform for dialogue, is noted for its limited substantive outcomes for non-member nations, highlighting India's potential to bridge divides between East and West and contribute to global governance, especially in the Indo-Pacific region, by leveraging its participation in diverse forums like G20, BRICS, SCO, and Quad to foster common interests and achieve tangible policy outcomes in areas such as technology transfer and market access.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi's attendance at the G7 Summit in Evian, France, underscores India's growing global influence and its role in articulating the priorities of the Global South, with discussions encompassing critical issues like climate governance, AI, and development finance. While India's engagement signifies its integration into advanced economies' deliberations, it faces a strategic imperative to advance its own economic and geopolitical interests, particularly amidst Western expectations for a clearer stance on the Ukraine conflict and relations with Russia, prompting a debate on India's multipolarity approach and the perception of strategic ambiguity. The summit, though a platform for dialogue, is noted for its limited substantive outcomes for non-member nations, highlighting India's potential to bridge divides between East and West and contribute to global governance, especially in the Indo-Pacific region, by leveraging its participation in diverse forums like G20, BRICS, SCO, and Quad to foster common interests and achieve tangible policy outcomes in areas such as technology transfer and market access.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi has arrived in Evian, France to attend the G7 Summit on 16-17 June 2026. India’s regular participation in the G7 outreach process reflects its rising stature and role in addressing global challenges and contributing to international efforts relating to peace, security, sustainable development and economic growth. The summit assumes considerable strategic importance for India, where PM Modi strongly articulated and put forward the concerns and priorities of the Global South.

India’s participation in the G7 over the years is becoming increasingly integral to deliberations on pressing issues such as climate governance, artificial intelligence, digital regulation, energy transitions, food security, and development finance. While India’s presence over years at this high table of advanced economies signifies its rising clout in the global order, India needs to take advantage of it to raise concerns that are core to its economic, strategic and geopolitical interests in its region and beyond.

In an interconnected world, where energy, food, health, cyber, and economic security are intertwined, building international partnerships was a necessity for the progress and prosperity of humanity. Speaking at the outreach session titled 'Forging New Partnerships and Rebuilding International Solidarity', PM Modi underlined the need for greater international cooperation in an increasingly interconnected world. He added that, in an uncertain world, trade and technology were being misused for narrow interests, leading to a trust deficit in the international arena.

Although G7 countries along with other invited countries, including India discussed on key regional and global developments of mutual interest. This grouping of advanced countries also anticipates that India comes clear on its stand on contentious issues like Ukraine conflict and its relations with Russia by not outrightly condemning its actions nor putting sanctions on Moscow. While India desires its deepening of relations with the West, the latter expects India to decouple its historically entrenched relations with Russia. One way forward could be India leveraging its influence with Russia to find a resolution to the ongoing conflict. This will bring greater credibility to India’s positioning as an emerging power and validate its positive impact in mediating and resolving this conflict.

Time might have come for India to introspect its multipolarity approach. As this strategic autonomy that India so treasures is being perceived as strategic ambiguity and fence-sitting by the western observers. Putting legs in two different boats might be rewarding in short term but may not be sustainable for India and its interests in long term. India, therefore, need to take a conscious decision as to on whom side it would like to pivot. While the West must also understand that by courting India into the G7 deliberations, it is a signal of India’s engagement with the grouping rather than the endorsement of its agenda.

Despite all the niceties and discussions, G7 summit at least for the non-member countries invited each year remains mere symbolic and for optics. Nothing substantial comes out of it and risks being tagged as a mere talk shop. In this context, India can play a critical role in bridging the divide between the West and the East and help greater cooperation and collaboration with between the two regions on pressing issues such as climate change, technology, trade, supply chain resilience, investments, AI among others. With its rising stature, India must rise to the occasion and play a vital role in the global governance architecture which it sometimes shies away from under the pretext of non-aligned policy.

One area where India’s positioning is critical is in the Indian Ocean and the wider Indo-Pacific region. Its growing maritime outreach and strengthening its partnership with Japan, Australia, France, Indonesia among others have increased it strategic significance. This notwithstanding the recent US announcement that their Indo-Pacific Command (USINDOPACOM) is officially reverting to its original name, the US Pacific Command (USPACOM) raising questions over US role in the Indo-Pacific and centrality of India within it.

As a key member of several multilateral and divergent forums such as G20, BRICS, SCO and Quad among others, India can meander through such platforms and get accepted despite not subscribing to one specific agenda or discourse. The aim is to focus on identifying and expanding its mutual interests rather than pin pointing divergences at G7 and such and similar other multilateral forums. Hence, India’s global engagement is defined less by fixed blocs and hard alliances than by interconnected coalitions and focusing on common agenda and shared interests.

Moving forward, India’s engagement with the developed nations of G7 must yield substantive policy framing and outcomes specially on issues related to climate change, technology transfer and greater access to trade and markets for countries like India and for other emerging and developing markets of the global south.

The author is professor of International Business and Strategy at EMLYON Business School, France. Rajesh Mehta is an International Affairs expert working on innovation & public policy

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