Economist Sanjeev Sanyal stated countries, especially in West Asia, may join India's growth story to sell energy and arms. He noted India deals with a world of 'frenemies' and standing up for its interests doesn't mean being jingoistic.
Economist and Historian Sanjeev Sanyal on Saturday said that countries, especially in West Asia, may like to be part of India's growth story if they plan to sell energy and arms, since the country remains a growing economy. He also said that standing up for India's interests doesn't mean one has to "become jingoistic". However, he said, things aren't black and white since the countries deal in a world of "frenemies". Sanyal said that on some issues, other countries would act as friends, whereas they might not on other issues.
A World of 'Frenemies'
"I don't think you should think of it as black and white. On certain issues, they may like it (to be part of India's growth story) if they want to sell you energy. They want a growing economy. They want to sell arms. They may like a growing economy because you have more money to buy their arms or energy or so on. You're dealing with a world of frenemies. On some issues, they'll be friends. On other issues, they may not be," Sanyal, who is a member of the Prime Minister's Economic Advisory Council, said in an interview with ANI.
"We should stop having this idea that one will agree with me on every point. No, we need to behave like adults," he added.
Historic Voyage Project and Engagement
When asked whether countries in Southeast Asia would be uncomfortable with India being depicted as a maritime power carrying out its Voyage project to different nations, Sanyal said it was not necessary, since they remain excited about the same. Sanyal's historic voyage project is essentially about retracing ancient trade routes.
"Not necessarily. I have been talking with them. They are quite excited about the possibility of a voyage to Southeast Asia in 2026, in fact, to the island of Bali. If this voyage to Oman goes well, the idea is to take the ship to the other coast and sail it from Odisha to re-create the famous ancient voyage called Bali Yatra. So there is excitement. The question is, how do we engage with the rest of the world in a positive way and bring them onto our thing? It's about engagement," Sanyal said.
"There's two ways of doing this. Just because I'm standing for India's interests does not mean that we have to become jingoistic and push everybody else around. No. We have to look useful to other people's interests," he added.
On Indian Economy's Growth
When asked about the mood of the India economy, Sanyal said there was an opportunity in the long-term growth cycle. He said that the growth number for the Indian economy was "not too bad" on a sustainable basis, given the global environment that remains disrupted.
"Long-term growth cycle in the sense that the opportunity is there. I mean, we are clearly growing very, very fast. The latest number came in at 8.2. For the quarterly number, my own thing is that there are statistical reasons why it's running at above 8 per cent. On a sustainable basis, we are doing something like seven, which is not too bad given the overall disrupted global environment that we are dealing with. It's not a bad sort of pace at all," he said.
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