India’s Soft Power Deficit: Why India Must Take Charge of Its Global Story

Western media, movies, and think tanks continue to dominate the global narrative of India, which frequently focuses on issues such as poverty, overcrowding, gender issues, religious tensions, and politics. Although these challenges are real, India's achievements in innovation, development, and global ambitions. This limited view reduces India to a collection of problems rather than seeing it as a developing nation influencing the future.

Illustration by The Geostrata

Even worse, in an attempt to win over international critics, Indian filmmakers and artists occasionally perpetuate these stereotypes by telling more "gritty" stories than triumphant ones. While the world is interested in India's contemporary realities of AI in Bengaluru, gaming studios in Hyderabad, design in Ahmedabad, and emerging street culture, our cultural diplomacy is still mired in nostalgic displays of dance, yoga, and Bollywood.

The world will continue to see only a portion of who we are until we rethink how we present ourselves.

When visiting an Indian mall, browsing social media, or listening to pop music, you will notice many aspects of Western Culture in India. The way we view humour is influenced by U.S. sitcoms, the songs we listen to are influenced by the songs that are popular worldwide, and our thoughts on the concept of love, science fiction, and even the future, are shaped by the movies produced in Hollywood. This cultural domination results from a combination of three factors: heavy investment into the Global Entertainment Industry with a focus on Global Marketing Integration and Global Distribution Channels.

Cultural exports influence perception, identity, and aspirations in addition to making money. Every generation absorbs Western perspectives on the world when they are raised mostly on Western stories. India grows into a sizable consumer market in the global cultural economy, but it does not yet make a substantial contribution. 

INDIA'S CREATIVE IDENTITY CRISIS

The way that Western sources create content for Indians has influenced the way that we see things around us, but the content about India that gets disseminated throughout the world ultimately influences the way that people see us, and not necessarily in a good way. This becomes even more problematic when Indian creators and artists take the same characterisations to gain award recognition and critical praise outside India.

The strongest international stories coming from India continue to have an underpinning of negative stereotypes, instead of positive stories. Cultural diplomacy is important with respect to heritage and nostalgia, but the vast majority of cultural diplomatic efforts from India are focused on the past (classical dance, yoga demonstrations, and curry), whereas modern India's identity encompasses innovations in space technology, digital public infrastructure, esports and contemporary art.

Soft Power Strategies not only focus on the heritage aspects of the country but also on the positive change happening within and how this positive change creates an ever-changing and constantly improving or breaking-new-ground India.

WHY INDIA SHOULD INVEST IN GLOBAL(IP) AND COLLABORATIONS

Today, the source of soft power is represented by intellectual property. It encompasses music, film, animated films, and others that can tell stories beyond borders and create emotional feelings of comfort. Countries such as South Korea have taken this cultural industry and developed it into a tool of diplomacy and a direct means of economic benefit.

The rise of K-pop and K-dramas not only leads to a fanbase but has also aided in exporting Korean products, including cosmetics and tourism. Millions of people travel to Korea every year expressly to explore filming locations, attend concerts, and interact with the nation's cultural landscape as a result of this cultural boom.

Due to the enormous size of India, a population of 1.4 billion people, and the growing and fast-evolving digital consumption trends among its young and technologically-savvy populace, India is poised to take on a leading role in the global economy for digital content and storytelling.

Additionally, due to its large global diaspora, content originating from India has a substantial cultural impact and reach around the world and provides India a unique opportunity to influence the digital media landscape going forward. However, India invests at considerably lower levels than it should with regard to developing content, training creators, and distributing content on a worldwide level.

Most of India’s content gets consumed within the country; many of the emotional ties to Bollywood have developed because of the global diaspora, but most of them are not because of the “cultural pull” they have. India needs to strategically concentrate on creating globally appealing intellectual property (IP) in order to reach its full potential as a narrative power.

A multifaceted strategy is needed to achieve this transformation: actively seeking collaborations and co-productions with significant international media companies; putting better export strategies for streaming media into place to maximize global reach; and making large investments in new formats like video games, comics, and animation. Success ultimately depends on how well Indian cultural products are marketed in order to position them as aspirational international brands.

Influence turns into power when culture turns into commerce.

COMMERCIAL SOFT POWER VIA MERCHANDISING

A major indicator of soft power for any content is its ongoing potential to create revenue through collaboration with brands around the world and merchandise.

Bridging Creativity and Commerce: The Government and other Industry Bodies must negotiate and create partnerships between successful content creators in India and Large Retail Brands worldwide (e.g., Nike, Adidas, Coca-Cola). The goal here is to develop and market the cultural attributes of costumes, logos, catchphrases, characters, etc. of India, in order to make them as commercially appealing as the same attributes of Western culture.

The Co-Creation Model: India must shift away from merely licensing brands with other countries and aim toward creating co-creation solutions. In this context, the Indian narrative should lead to the development of a new global product line. Well-executed concepts based on the Mahabharata (for example, a Mahabharata role-playing game), or ideas inspired by the ancient Indian warrior image, could have as much market appeal as the crime dramas found in India.

The Aspiration to buy Merchandise: There should be a strong sense of cultural aspiration among Indian youth, both at home as well as abroad. In order for young people to associate themselves with an associated brand, there must be a desire to purchase the clothing and merchandise. There should also be a desire to visit places depicted in content, and to learn and understand the history behind them; thus transforming passive viewers into active participants in the cultural exchange.

SOFT POWER CORRECTION STRATEGY FOR INDIA

India needs a formalised soft power vision based on the integration of Policy, Economics, and Global Communications. This Correction Strategy (Soft Power Correction Strategy) will include the combination of the four Pillars:

Narrative Sovereignty: As a developing country at the forefront of technological advancement, creative youth culture, digital governance, environmental leadership, and modern culture, we must actively shape our narrative. The global economy contains India's success stories, such as space missions and fintech revolutions, but their global amplification has not yet reached a critical mass. In order to present India as a country of the future rather than the past, the government, media, academic institutions, and creative communities must work together to redefine India's image as competent, self-assured, and prepared for the future.

Invest in Creative Infrastructure: Soft Power by nature, depends on having a strong economic infrastructure. Thus, the need for India to invest heavily in the Creation of export-ready creative Content, i.e., Films, Streaming Shows, Animation, Video Games, Fashion, Comics, Design, etc. The establishment of a Soft Power Fund that supports creators in developing their ideas into Global IP, designed with broad appeal, is beneficial; however, the Support of Talent Development (Training), Incubators for Talent Development, World-Class Production Studios, and the Support of Creator Collaboration is an important first step.

Modernising Cultural Diplomacy in Global Context: India's contemporary representation must encompass new cultural forms like indie music, designer fashion, esports, and technology-driven entrepreneurship in addition to traditional manifestations of dance, cuisine, and heritage. In addition to enabling Indian stories to spread worldwide via OTT platforms, international entrepreneurship festivals, and museum networks, the establishment of cultural centres in major global cities would allow audiences from other countries to interact with India in innovative and engaging ways. India's soft-power diplomacy needs to be aspirational, relatable, contemporary, and able to connect with the next generation of global citizens emotionally.

Collaborating Between the Government and Private Sector: It takes a national ecosystem, not a single actor, to develop soft power. The private sector offers scale, innovation, and market reach, while the government provides international networks and policy frameworks. Indian businesses should expand their global branding initiatives beyond sports sponsorships to include film, music, visual intellectual property, gaming, and cultural technology. Cultural capital can be converted into economic and diplomatic power through co-productions, export incentives, and international marketing alliances, raising India's profile internationally.

CULTURAL POWER TO NARRATIVE POWER

India has every resource necessary to lead: cultural diversity, creative resources, history, technological skill, and demographic leadership. The only resource missing from India’s arsenal is a Soft Power strategy; In today’s world, the greatest army or economy does not have the most influence. Those with the greatest influence in today’s world are the ones with the greatest effect on Imagination and Aspiration.

India must make sure that the world not only talks about us but also thinks like us if it is to assert its position as a global leader. India has the opportunity to change from being a cultural treasure to a storyteller. It is imperative to have a soft power correction. The world is prepared to hear India's story, but India must decide to do so.

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BY MUSKAN GUPTA

TEAM GEOSTRATA

info@thegeostrata.com