Soft power: India’s opportunity to shape the global imagination
India should be able to speak to the world through yoga and aI, Ayurveda and animation, classical music and gaming, and cutting-edge digital creativity. These are not contradictions
Power has traditionally been understood in fairly straightforward terms, economic strength, military capability, technological advancement and political influence. But in today’s interconnected world, there is another form of power that is becoming equally important: the ability of a country to attract, inspire and influence without coercion. That is the power of soft power.
India has always possessed it. What is changing now is the scale of the opportunity before us. In his Independence Day address, Prime Minister Narendra Modi identified soft power as one of the seven Saptadharas that can take India towards greater national strength, alongside manufacturing, agriculture and food processing, technology and innovation, infrastructure, defence, and the green and blue economy. The inclusion of soft power in this framework is significant because it places culture, creativity and global influence within the larger developmental vision of Viksit Bharat.
For India, soft power is not something that needs to be artificially created. It already exists in extraordinary depth. Yoga is today practised across continents. Ayurveda has found growing international interest. Indian cinema and music travel far beyond the country’s borders. Indian food has become part of everyday life in cities across the world. Our spiritual traditions, festivals, textiles, classical arts, literature and philosophies have shaped perceptions of India for generations. But possessing cultural richness and converting it into sustained global influence are two different things. That is where India’s next opportunity lies.
There is a broader understanding of soft power beyond the traditional ideas of heritage and culture. It connects yoga, Ayurveda and tourism with newer sectors such as VFX, animation, gaming and the creative economy. It also identifies wildlife, national parks, major sporting events and the rapidly growing concert economy as areas through which India can attract the world and showcase its capabilities. This is an important shift. Soft power today is no longer only about how much of a country’s past the world admires. It is also about how relevant that country feels in the present.
India has one of the oldest civilisations in the world, but it also has one of the youngest populations. Our global identity, therefore, cannot rest only on ancient temples, classical traditions or historical achievements. It must also include contemporary India, its filmmakers, designers, musicians, gamers, animators, athletes, entrepreneurs and digital creators. The real power lies in bringing both together.
India should be able to speak to the world through yoga and artificial intelligence, Ayurveda and animation, classical music and gaming, ancient knowledge systems and cutting-edge digital creativity. These are not contradictions. In fact, they are what make India distinctive. The creative economy is particularly important in this context. Countries increasingly shape global perceptions through the stories they tell. Cinema, television, music, gaming and digital content reach people in ways that formal diplomacy often cannot. They enter homes, influence taste, create familiarity and build emotional connections.
A person may know very little about the politics or foreign policy of a country and yet feel deeply connected to it because of its films, food, music or culture. That emotional familiarity matters. When people admire a country’s culture, they become curious about the country itself. Curiosity can lead to tourism, education, business engagement and deeper people-to-people ties. In that sense, soft power is not separate from economic development; it can actively contribute to it.
Tourism is perhaps one of the clearest examples. India has extraordinary geographical and cultural diversity, from the Himalayas and the deserts of Rajasthan to wildlife reserves, coastal regions, heritage cities, spiritual centres and the North-East. Yet the potential of these assets as instruments of global influence remains far greater than what we currently realise.
The Prime Minister specifically highlighted wildlife, national parks and tourism as areas through which India can draw global visitors. A tourist who visits India does much more than spend money here. They experience the country personally. They interact with people, encounter its culture and carry those experiences back with them. In that sense, every positive visitor experience becomes a form of informal diplomacy.
International sporting events and the concert economy are becoming the new areas of opportunity. Hosting major global events does not simply generate revenue. It places a country at the centre of global attention. It showcases infrastructure, cities, culture and organizational capability. It also creates memories associated with a country that can last far beyond the event itself. India’s improving international sporting presence and its ambitions around major sporting events therefore have a larger significance as well. There is also an economic argument for taking soft power more seriously. Culture today is an industry.
Films generate tourism. Music creates events and digital revenue. Gaming creates valuable intellectual property. Wellness traditions create global markets. Cuisine supports food exports and restaurant businesses. Heritage sustains tourism economies. Sporting events create opportunities across hospitality, transport, advertising and broadcasting. Soft power can therefore create a chain of value: cultural visibility creates curiosity; curiosity creates engagement; engagement creates trust; and trust can eventually create economic and strategic opportunities. But for India to fully realise this potential, one important shift is necessary. We have to move from simply being proud of our culture to becoming better at presenting it to the world. That means investing in creators, institutions and platforms. It means supporting animation, films, gaming, music and design at international standards. It means better preservation and presentation of heritage. It means making tourism seamless, safe and globally competitive. It means strengthening translation so that Indian literature and ideas can travel across languages. It means helping regional stories find global audiences rather than reducing India to a few familiar cultural symbols.
India’s greatest strength here may actually be its diversity. There is no single Indian story. There are thousands of them. Every region offers its own food, music, language, landscape, literature, craft, history and cultural tradition. If these are given global platforms, India does not merely have one source of soft power; it has an almost limitless reservoir of them.
There is, however, one condition. Soft power works only when it is credible. A country cannot build long-term influence through projection alone. What the world sees must ultimately connect with what the country is. The Prime Minister himself linked India’s growing international respect with the country’s political stability, vibrant democracy, judicial system and constitutional framework. Reputation is strongest when it is backed by reality. That is why soft power should not be viewed as publicity. It is something much deeper. It is the cumulative impression created by a country’s culture, institutions, people, achievements and behaviour. For India, this makes soft power an extraordinary force multiplier. Manufacturing can make India competitive. Technology can make India innovative. Defence can make India secure. Economic growth can make India influential. But soft power can make India relatable. It can make people across the world feel that they know India, understand India and want to engage with India.
As India moves towards the goal of Viksit Bharat, this dimension of national growth deserves far greater attention. Becoming a developed country is not only about expanding economic capacity. It is also about expanding the space a country occupies in the imagination of the world.
India already has the stories, traditions, knowledge, landscapes and talent. The next step is to give them the scale, confidence and platforms they deserve. Because in the decades ahead, the countries that shape the world will not only be those that produce the most or possess the most. They will also be the countries that inspire the most.
The author is a Commentator and Writer on Cinema, Branding, Media Management and Geo-Strategic Communication. Inputs provided by Zoya Ahmad and Vaishnavie Srinivasan; Views presented are personal.
