India between Alignment and Autarchy

Priyanka Agar Wala

Trade conflicts, hybrid warfare, and the rise of neo-plurilateral frameworks are reshaping the global order. Europe and India are now expanding their partnerships in response to the global turbulence, but from different objectives. For Europe, the goal is basically security-driven as Russia, a challenging neighbor, is increasingly considered an existential threat. In contrast, India’s ambition to become a developed nation by 2047 is shaping its foreign policy and underpins its focus on strategic autonomy. As a result, India establishes itself as a stabilizing, non-aligned economic power bridging competing blocs and creating a new dimension of global power dynamics.

In my previous article in the series, I was navigating the current complex world order under the Trump administration and India’s multi-alliance strategy. Building upon these contemporary challenges, this article mainly explores the growing Europe-India partnership and the politics of balancing West and anti-West.

The return of Donald Trump to the White House has created uncertainty for both Europe and India, though in different ways. Europe fears U.S’s renewed protectionist tariffs and weaker security guarantees, whereas India faces trade barriers and inconsistent changes in American Indo-Pacific defense strategies. This uncertainty over trade tariffs and security prompted Europe and India to conclude a free trade agreement on 27 January 2026 after a long period of negotiations. This free trade agreement aims to deepen economic ties by expanding market access for key products on both sides. The agreement establishes lower trade restrictions for European products like automobiles, wine, and spirits while it permits Indian businesses to export their marine products, textiles, leather goods, handicrafts, gems and jewelry, plastics, and toys to European markets. The deal maintains a balance between trade liberalization and protection of sensitive industries while it promotes industrial development and export growth and protects supply chains in the current trade instability.

Moreover, the agreement protects both parties from United States tariff risks and the effects of protectionist policies, while creating protection against trade disruptions resulting from United States-China geopolitical tensions. Europe develops partnerships with trustworthy countries to build economic resilience and prevent market distortions, while India seeks European access for industrial development and export growth to protect itself from unpredictable trade relations with the United States.

However, India maintains its strong ties with the United States, Russia and other major blocs. The recent trade deal with the U.S. on February 6, 2026, lowers tariffs on India in exchange for buying US products worth $500 billion and stopping all Russian oil imports. Although India has reduced its purchase of Russian crude, it has yet to issue any official directive to cease those purchases. In the meantime, India began BRICS + presidency in January 2026 and proposed redefining the group as “Building Resilience and Innovation for Cooperation.” with Global South priorities. This reflects India’s approach of issue-based engagement pursuing economic, security, and technological partnerships with different powers without committing exclusively to any single bloc, a core principle of its multi-alignment policy. This approach perhaps limits Europe to treat India as a fully predictable partner within a unified Western framework and further challenges to work with a country that prioritizes strategic autonomy over alignment.

Indian foreign policy has evolved from Cold War non-alignment to post-Cold War strategic autonomy and, more recently, to a policy of multi-alignment. Non-alignment created distance from rival blocs while strategic autonomy permitted making independent choices, but multi-alignment now enables India to pursue a more proactive approach. The framework allows India to sustain its historical ties with Russia and maintain competition with China while expanding its strategic partnership with the United States, Europe, and Indo-Pacific countries. This strategic autonomy further grows through its trade agreements with European countries while benefiting from its security and economic relationship with Russia through cheap oil, trade and fighter jet engines.

Additionally, through its participation in diverse forums and blocs like BRICS and the Quad alliance, India re-establishes a multi-alignment strategy that helps the country balance its security needs with economic development while serving as a link between Western and non-Western nations. Today, India pursues multiple partnerships in economic security and technological fields to safeguard its national interests while responding to the challenges of an unpredictable multi polar system. However, it comes with the underlying challenge to balance its relations between Western powers and non-Western blocs without compromising India’s strategic autonomy.

India’s multi-alignment strategy against emerging distrust in global politics has made it essential for India to strengthen its bilateral relations and partnership with various countries and blocs, including Europe, Russia, African nations, and BRICS. As a result, India maintains its historic relationship with Russia as a hedge against uncertainty. For instance, New Delhi decided to remain neutral on the 2022 Ukraine invasion and purchase Russian oil at discounted prices. At the same time, it develops stronger ties with BRICS+ countries through trade agreements and security partnerships.

Primarily, India joined BRICS to establish an equitable international system while strengthening its status as the voice of the Global South and enabling India to work together with China, Brazil, Russia, and South Africa on shared objectives. Additionally, India uses BRICS as its platform to counter what it sees as unjust global practices such as the European Union's carbon border adjustment mechanism, economic concentration, and unilateral sanctions. Soon, the expansion of BRICS+ countries brings tangible benefits to India. For instance, the strategic alliance with Iran and the development of Chabahar Port improves regional links and provides an alternative to the China-Pakistan Corridor. However, the increasing East-West conflict i.e. the United States and China Trade technology disputes and between the Western alliance with Russia, which started after Russia invaded Ukraine, has motivated China and Russia to expand BRICS into a strong anti-Western alliance.

Hence, the significant challenge India faces within BRICS membership lies in its need to prevent the rhetoric of the bloc from being framed as an anti-Western alliance from gaining traction. India prefers the BRICS to be characterized as non-Western instead of anti-Western. As a result, India opted out of taking part in the 2026 BRICS naval war games “Will for Peace 2026,” hosted by South Africa, despite the drills being held under the BRICS Plus banner.

Again, rather than choosing a side, India manages multiple relationships to create new options to protect its strategic autonomy while dealing with uncertainty. This resulted in several successful Free Trade Agreements with diverse countries including the UK, New Zealand, the EFTA (European Free Trade Association), Oman and others. Thus, the apparent contradictions between India's growing European and American relationships and its ongoing Russian ties exist intentionally. India uses flexible issue-based diplomatic methods to handle contemporary conflicts without joining any specific alliance.

These diplomatic moves may give the impression that India is fluctuating between Europe, the U.S., and the anti-West blocs, but the underlying reality is more balanced and pragmatic. India maintains active participation in the Shanghai Cooperation Organization and BRICS, while it upholds strong energy and defense relationships with Moscow. Simultaneously, the country expands its security and technology partnerships with the United States and Indo-Pacific nations while focusing on managing China's increasing power. The United States is still India’s indispensable economic partner and serves as its primary export market for both products and IT services, while being the top remittance source for India. Thus, the trade conflicts between the two nations show economic negotiations between them instead of a total political rupture. On the other hand, India views the European Union to be one of its international partners among several and prioritizes bilateral relationships with European countries, especially France and Germany, rather than the European Union as a whole system. The recent visit of the French president to India and the deal for Rafale jets further emphasizes the bilateral ties.

In sum, beneath the multi-alignment approach, India’s foreign policy is slowly changing in clear ways. It is getting closer to European nations for defense, technology, and trade, mainly to manage China’s growing influence. At the same time, its ties with Russia remain important for energy and defense, but India is gradually reducing dependence by diversifying suppliers and boosting domestic production. Overall, India is moving from simply balancing powers to becoming a stronger, more independent player focusing on technology, economic resilience, and global influence.

Further reading

International Chamber of Commerce China. International Conference Specialties. https://en.icc.org.cn/specialties/international_conference/345.html

Institute of South Asian Studies, National University of Singapore. India’s Role in BRICS: Navigati ng the Balance in a Changing World. https://www.isas.nus.edu.sg/papers/indias-role-in-the-brics-navigating-the-balance-in-a-changing-world/

SAGE Journals. Article DOI: 10.1177/29769442251405651. https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/29769442251405651

Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs. India Leaning One Side, Cautiously. https://www.belfercenter.org/research-analysis/india-leaning-one-side-cautiously

Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. BRICS Expansion and the Future of World Order. https://carnegieendowment.org/research/2025/03/brics-expansion-and-the-future-of-world-order-perspectives-from-member-states-partners-and-aspirants

European Commission. Press Release IP/26/184. https://ec.europa.eu/commission/presscorner/detail/en/ip_26_184

European Union Institute for Security Studies. Living in Friction: Three Anchors of the EU–India Partnership. https://www.iss.europa.eu/publications/briefs/living-friction-three-anchors-eu-india-partnership

CIDOB. India’s Foreign Policy Reconfiguration: Non-Alignment to Multi-Alignment. https://www.cidob.org/en/publications/indias-foreign-policy-reconfiguration-non-alignment-multi-alignment

Chatham House. Despite Reset in India–US Relations, New Delhi Retains Strategic Hedging. https://www.chathamhouse.org/2026/02/despite-reset-india-us-relations-new-delhi-retains-commitment-strategic-hedging

Al Jazeera. BRICS Wargames: Why They Matter and Why India Opted Out. https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2026/1/11/brics-wargames-why-they-matter-why-india-opted-out

The Diplomat. India’s 2026 BRICS Presidency: Multilateralism, Multipolarity and the Venezuelan Test. https://thediplomat.com/2026/01/indias-2026-brics-presidency-multilateralism-multipolarity-and-the-venezuelan-test/

Geopolitical Monitor. India’s Foreign Policy Must Be Guided by Historical Reality. https://www.geopoliticalmonitor.com/indias-foreign-policy-must-be-guided-by-historical-reality-not-catchphrases/

IRIS France. EU–India: Questioning the Grey Areas of the Free Trade Agreement. https://www.iris-france.org/en/euindia-questioning-the-grey-areas-of-the-free-trade-agreement/