By CNBCTV18.com November 29, 2025, 6:39:44 PM IST (Published)
External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar on Saturday, November 29 said that India has been pushing for self-reliance as global politics increasingly “trumps” economics in the present era.
“This is an era where politics increasingly trumps economics… and that is not a pun,” he said, addressing a gathering at IIM-Calcutta after being conferred an Honorary Doctorate by the institute.
Jaishankar went on to say that the US has radically changed the way it engages with countries of the world while China continues to play by its own rules. “The United States, long the underwriter of the contemporary system, has set radically new terms of engagement. It is doing so by dealing with countries on a one-on-one basis,” he reportedly said, according to PTI.
Amid such changing geopolitical scenario, he said India has been actively pursuing self-reliance to become a manufacturing base for industries.
“India has been making exponential advancements in infrastructure as well as in latest scientific developments,” he added.
He also told the gathering that the rest of the world has been “hedging against all contingencies” to deal with uncertainties in the world today.
India, which is in talks with the US to finalise a Bilateral Trade Agreement (BTA), continues to bear the brunt of prevailing uncertainties in global trade and geopolitics under the Trump administration.
Exporters from India to the US are especially hurt by a steep tariff of 50% that came into effect on August 27. This includes a 25% penalty on India for purchasing Russian oil and defence products.
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(Edited by : Tenzin Norzom)
