A new, multipolar economic order is taking shape, led by nations like India, whose demographic strength, resource wealth, and deeply rooted ethos of fairness position it as a key architect of a more just and sustainable global economy

The world economy is in for a big churning, a severe shake-up. The reasons are primarily two — a debt-based capitalistic model of development and the dominance of the dollar as the international monetary currency, delinked from any traditional tangible material resource like gold.

In the last 75 years, the economic models of the USA, Europe, and a major part of the rest of the world have been built on a typical capitalist ecosphere in which large funds, banking institutions, and a dominant global currency — the US dollar — have been the driving elements.

This model has begun to wear out, naturally, because it was unsustainable and out of sync with the fundamental economic principles that drive the economic growth of institutions, including that of nations.

It is the widely held view in the present times that economic growth occurs through the production of valuable goods and services and their sale to those who consume such goods or services.

But this understanding or definition needs clarification. Today, the economic growth of nations is defined and measured in terms of GDP, of which trade forms a major component.

Trade here connotes exports as well as imports. However, economic status depends on accumulated wealth due to the net inflow of money.

Accumulation of money takes place through two modes — international trade and domestic production and sale. But for a nation to grow rich, it has to be sovereign and politically independent — because the terms of international trade and domestic business need to be in tune with fairness and equity.

This was not the case during the British rule in India, which was a saga of depredation and plunder. This also is not true in the wake of an inequitable global economic order where rules of business are skewed in favour of the mightier and more influential nations.

The world economic order over the last 80 years since the cessation of the Second World War has been determined and drawn by the victor block of the war — the Allied powers.

The Allied power group created vassal or semi-vassal states out of the vanquished Axis power states and other states.

Military might created political hegemony, and this gradually transformed into economic hegemony through one-sided trade rules that perpetuated the poverty of third-world countries and further enriched the first-world countries.

The establishment of the UNO and its sub-organisations did not do much to alter the tilt of the economic order towards the First World block.

Things became worse 30 years later when the US dollar, the reserve currency of the world, was delinked from gold, thus giving it overriding and overwhelming dominance.

Growth potential was always with the resource-rich third-world countries, and the high economic growth of these countries through the eighties and nineties of the twentieth century could not be matched by the economically saturated and stagnating first-world block, WTO and a set of trade rules thereunder, like GATT and TRIPS, were established.

But these also could not give the intended growth impetus to the first-world block, because of the working of immanent natural laws of economics.

It is time again today to look at the above natural laws. The capitalistic, debt-based model of growth is unnatural and unsustainable. The plunder or exploitation-based model is inhuman and naturally unsustainable too.

The world is staring at a new economic order because of the changing power equations across the globe. Today, military and industrial technology is not the sole preserve of the designated first-world nations of the twentieth century.

China, India, Brazil, and Iran are some of the ex — third-world countries that, besides being resource-rich, also have industrial and military technologies.

China and India possess nuclear arsenals, and even Iran is on its way to acquiring nuclear capability. So, neither military might nor economic might of the erstwhile powers can sustain the old world economic order.

The mammoth debt of China, pegged at 300 per cent of GDP, and of the USA, estimated at 36 trillion US dollars (more than 100 per cent of its GDP), is already showing its detrimental effects in both these countries, evidenced by the economic recession, inflation, and unemployment.

The Belt and Road initiative of China has landed in a quandary, and WTO rules are being thrown to the winds by the Trump administration in the USA.

The new world economic order will, inexorably, see the decline and demise of the US dollar as the dominant currency and the emergence of a multiple — currency basket for trade.

The natural laws of economics are manifesting their work in the resurgence of India, and there seems to be no stopping the slow-stepped elephant after the dragon in its neighbour seems to have fagged out.

The unique positive naturally endowed features of India are its plentiful, productive Human Resources and its economically strategic agro-climatic location along with its rich mineral resources.

Today, this country is mostly free from exploitative interference and arm-twisting by global powers and is poised for rapid take-off to become a developed nation.

The new economic order will, therefore, inevitably, see a strong economic resurgence of the Indian subcontinent, regression of the eurozone countries, and a relatively slow growth of Latin American and African countries. The latter will pick up growth led by a resurgent India in the years and decades to come.

The Indian subcontinent, in its growth and development journey, will not indulge in the exploitation of the smaller and weaker states, unlike its colonial masters and their new avatars.

It is not in the DNA of India to invade, conquer, and plunder other nations.

The Indian ethos underlines the philosophy of ‘live and let live’ instead of ‘survival of the fittest’. That is another area where India is different and unique.

In conclusion, the global economic landscape is undergoing a profound transformation driven by the unsustainability of a debt-fuelled, capitalist model and the waning dominance of the US dollar.

The era of Western economic hegemony — rooted in military might, exploitative trade practices, and the artificial supremacy of fiat currency — is rapidly eroding. Emerging economies like India, China, Brazil, and Iran, rich in resources and technological capabilities, are reshaping the balance of power.

Among these, India stands uniquely poised for sustained and inclusive growth, bolstered by its demographic advantage, strategic location, and ethical economic philosophy.

As the global order pivots toward a multi — currency trading system and more equitable partnerships, India’s non-imperial ethos positions it as a natural leader in the evolving economic era.

The new world economy will not just be about wealth accumulation but about fairness, sustainability, and mutual progress — principles deeply embedded in India’s civilisational values. A future rooted in cooperation, not domination, is now within reach.

(The writer is a is a management consultant based in New Delhi. Views are personal)