Ideas for India 2025 was a wonderful gathering of people from different backgrounds and places who are interested in the India story and the UK-India interactions. The conference started with opening remarks by Pratik Dattani, the Founder of Bridge India who had painstakingly organized the conference. He welcomed everyone to the conference and gave an introduction to Bridge India and the Ideas for India conference which have been held for many years in London and form part of India Week.
India in a multipolar world
The first panel discussion was on the topic of India in a multipolar world. The panelists were Raghav Chadha, a Member of the Indian Parliament from the Rajya Sabha, Lord Simon McDonald, Former Permanent Under-Secretary and Head of the Diplomatic Service at FDCO, Reena Ranger OBE, Former Co-Chair of the Conservative Friends of India and Giles Trendle, the Co-founder and Former Managing Director of Al Jazeera English and the Green House Duo.
Raghav Chadha mentioned that India has evolved from non-alignment to multi-alignment and can engage diplomatically with both Moscow and Washington, and Kyiv and Moscow, reflecting independent foreign policy. He mentioned that India is no longer a regional power or subordinate actor but a rising global force with more than 1.4 billion people, the 4th largest economy in the world and the demographic dividend. He described that India seeks partnership without subordination in global affairs and describes India’s diplomatic model as non-compromising, autonomous, and adaptive.
Lord McDonald talked about an alternative framing redefining multipolarity where the world is apolar with no dominant power is in charge. The main influences for that were climate change, global pandemics and multinational corporations. He mentioned that India’s foreign policy prioritizes concentric circles such as domestic issues and regional tensions like China and Pakistan and highlights border disputes with China as particularly severe and ongoing.
Reena Ranger mentioned that UK–India ties have evolved into a strategic partnership between equals. The British Indian diaspora of more than 1.8 million British Indians plays a a key role in diplomacy, economy, and culture. With the post Brexit UK pursuing an Indo-Pacific tilt, India is a core partner. The recent India UK Free Trade Agreement (FTA) is a major opportunity. The past colonial tensions are acknowledged but reframed toward future collaboration.
There was increasing cultural and political integration between both countries. The British Indian representation in UK politics is growing as seen with leaders such as Rishi Sunak, Suella Braverman and others in important positions. This has enhanced people-to-people and governmental engagement driven by a strong sense of mutual respect and symbolic value of shared heritage in diplomacy.
Raghav Chadha described that India’s approach after the terrorist attacks in Jammu & Kashmir was a swift and measured military response. The cross-border strikes targeted terror infrastructure and not civilians or military assets. India’s new doctrine was to be peaceful but prepared, not as an aggressor, but as a protector.
There was discussion about how India is investing heavily in green energy, tech, and public-private partnerships. The vision of India as “Vishwa Guru”(teacher of the world) was described as not being defined by supremacy but by dharma, solidarity, empathy, and service. It was mentioned that India should become the “conscience keeper” of the world, exporting its values and wisdom, not just products.
To conclude, India’s multi-alignment strategy is seen as a form of modern diplomacy reflecting ancient wisdom. The UK–India relationship is positioned to grow further through shared interests, mutual respect, and collaborative ventures. This is due to the shared goals of building a more stable, cooperative, and inclusive multipolar world.
India’s regional security post-Pahalgam
The second panel discussion was on the topic of India’s regional security post the Pahalgam attacks. The panelists were Kate Sullivan de Estrada, Associate Professor in the International Relations of South Asia at the University of Oxford and Rahul Roy-Chaudhury, Senior Fellow for South and Central Asian Defence at the International Institute for Strategic Studies(IISS). The panelists examined India’s strategic recalibration after the April 22, 2025 Pahalgam terror attack, which killed 26 civilians, prompting a series of military, diplomatic, and security responses. The session focused on how India’s regional posture shifted in the aftermath.
The panelists first discussed Operation Sindoor & India’s response to the Pahalgam attacks. India launched Operation Sindoor on May 7, 2025 by striking multiple targets across Pakistan and Pakistan Occupied Kashmir(POK). The operation started with targeting terrorist infrastructure across several locations. This was the first time India had conducted air strikes across internationally recognized borders since 1971, signaling a geopolitical shift in India’s retaliatory posture.
India’s aims were to strike terror infrastructure with precision, minimize civilian casualties and avoid full-scale war. Pakistan’s goals were to demonstrate deterrence and defense strength. It was focused on propaganda campaigns with them having billboards with “Park Fauj Zindabad” and the promotion of the Chief of Army Staff Asim Munir to Field Marshal rank. Both sides claimed victory but the real goal was showing restraint to avoid war which both achieved.
There was a discussion about the controversy about the US role in brokering the ceasefire. President Trump claimed that the US offered trade incentives to both nations to end conflict. India denied it and India’s Ministry of External Affairs asserted ceasefire was bilaterally arranged through DGMO level talks between India and Pakistan. Pakistan spun the situation by welcoming Trump’s involvement to push internationalization of Kashmir. The UK had a role to play too with Foreign Secretary David Lammy having urged restraint from both sides. They discussed that the truth seemed to unclear with each country promoting a narrative that suits domestic politics.
The panelists discuss that there was a muted Western response with a condemnation of the terror attack but no explicit criticism of Pakistan. There were concerns over Chinese military technology as Pakistan deployed Chinese drones, aircraft weapons in combat. There is growing worry that South Asia may become a test zone for Chinese arms exports.
The experts discussed the diplomatic dilemma with India’s rising stature vs. Pakistan’s attempt to “re-hyphenate” the region. They also mentioned the important of the Indus Waters Treaty (IWT) as a strategic level. As a result of this conflict, India had held the treaty in “in abeyance” for the first time by affecting water flow to Pakistan. There are major humanitarian concerns as water disruption could harm Pakistani agriculture. There is a legal debate on using the treaty for strategic pressure while considering the issues with weaponizing essential resources.
One of the audience questions was about whether strategic autonomy was still viable for India. Kate Sullivan de Estrada mentioned that strategic autonomy is a force for peace and alliances may entangle India in foreign conflicts. Rahul Roy-Chaudhury mentioned that India’s lack of alliances may have weakened global support towards its goals during the crisis.
To conclude, India–Pakistan relations have entered a new, more dangerous phase with both sides hardened. The next conflict may involve both country’s navy, increasing the chances of full-scale war. Strategic Autonomy remains central to India’s identity, but raises questions in an era of alliances. India has a chance to lead not just by power, but by values, such as peaceful conflict resolution, ethical governance and preserving its democratic model. The new Cold War environment between US and China complicates India’s balancing act but also increases its geopolitical value.
Why Telangana matters: Steady growth, and navigating the global economic landscape
K.T. Rama Rao, Working President of the BRS Party and Former Minister for Municipal Administration & Urban Development, Industries, Commerce & IT of the Government of Telangana. He gave a brilliant presentation about the state of Telangana and introduced it to the broader community. He described it as the most successful start up state of independent India. He mentioned that Hyderabad, the capital city of Telangana is one of the most important hubs of technology in the world. He was a part of the government from the founding of Telangana in 2014 to 2023.
He mentioned that the Kaleshwaram Lift Irrigation Project, the world’s largest lift irrigation project was in Telengana. The world’s largest campuses of Google, Amazon, Meta and many more outside the US are located in Hyderabad.
He mentioned that Telangana was ranked number 1 in per capita income. Tecnology jobs grew from 323,000 to almost a million. Technology exports were 56000 crores to 2,41,000 crores of Indian rupees.
He mentioned that Telangana was a great example of disruption in governance. Telangana came first in ease of doing business and had unique laws for that. For launching operations in Telangana, the TSI Pass is a revolutionary law which removes the need for any approval from any local government in the very beginning and all other clearances are given in 15 days and if not, automatically approved on the 16th day. More than 28000 clearances were given on this basis in Telangana. This has lead to explosive growth in the state.
To summarize, Telangana has a fine balance of development and welfare and an inclusive and holistic approach make Telangana a great place with change institutionalized. There’s a lot for the rest of India to learn from Telangana.
India as Vishwaguru: Soft power through democracy and elections
This panel included Dr Chietigj Bajpaee, Senior Research Fellow for South Asia for the Asia-Pacific Programme at Chatham House, Dr. S.Y. Quraishi, Former Chief Election Commissioner of India, Vinesh Chandel, Co-Founder and Director, Indian Political Action Committee (I-PAC) and Pradyot Manikya, the Chairman of the TIPRA Motha Party and titular King of Tripura. Dr. Chietigj Bajpaee moderated the panel.
The discussion focused on India’s soft power. The inspiration for that was Joseph Nye’s concept of soft power, the power to attract rather than coerce. For India, soft power refers to Bollywood, Yoga, Ayurveda, democratic values and diaspora engagement. Under the current Modi government, democracy promotion is now a prominent soft power tool as India has presented itself as the “Mother of Democracy” and the “Pole Star” of democratic values.
Vinesh Chandel discussed the current state of Indian democracy and mentioned that in his view from a national lens, Indian democracy is “vibrant, complex, and evolving.” He mentioned the key reforms that have proposed such as One Nation, One Election and delimitation to expand the number of parliamentary seats that would favour North India. He mentioned that despite global voter apathy, India sees increasing participation in its elections. He suggested that India has high voter turnout as citizens vote even to “seek revenge” on politicians.
Pradyot Manikya described his view of Indian democracy from a regional lens due to him being from the state of Tripura in the Northeast. He mentioned that the people of the Northeast region now participate electorally instead of resorting to violence. He emphasized representation of minorities, especially tribes and small cultures. He praised Panchayati Raj and tribal councils as deep-rooted democratic models. He did warn that democracy suffers when people’s emotional disconnect with the nation grows. He stressed that India’s power lies in nonviolent disagreement, unlike neighbors like Pakistan.
Dr. S.Y. Quraishi talked about India’s electoral institutions. He described the scale of Indian elections and mentioned that they are larger than elections in more than than 90 countries combined. He described that every vote counts with recounts and polling booths for single voters in remote areas to ensure that everyone gets to vote. India provides global election training to other countries through the India International Institute of Democracy and Election Management(IIDEM) where 141 countries have trained in India. India’s focus has been on partnership over marketing.
There was a discussion on promoting Indian democracy globally and whether Indian should export democracy across the globe. There were mixed views where Pradyot Manikya mentioned that the word export sounds transactional and that soft power should be subtle and organic. Vinesh Chandel disagreed with that and said that India must actively market its democratic process. Proposed strategies for a global campaign such as “Vote Like India” would highlight India’s sustained, high voter participation in contrast to declining voting rates in Western democracies.
India could promote a democracy toolkit that would package India’s technology including voter roll applications and tracking tools for global use. India could build a global democracy institute with a high-end training hub for electoral innovation for attracting global leaders.
To conclude, they mentioned that unlike Pakistan, Bangladesh, or Sri Lanka, India has stable democratic transitions. India is already a democratic soft power, but must package its success better for global audiences and build institutions and campaigns to spread democratic processes. It was important to continue improving internal democratic quality with fair candidates and deeper representation in the future.
Founder Stories: Indians making it big
This panel discussion included Shalini Gupta, Head of Internal Communications, UKIMEA at Arup, Nilesh Choudhary, Founder and CEO at Aikyam Capital, Avinav Nigam, Founder and CEO at TERN Group and Vee Bharkhada, Founder and Director of Navigate Business Recovery.
Shalini Gupta mentioned that she was born in Lucknow, raised in Delhi and worked in Dubai and London. She reflected on family legacy and how her grandfather faced racial discrimination in the UK in the 1950’s and how she returned decades later to leadership roles. She emphasized ambition balanced with tradition, chai diplomacy, and the Indian entrepreneurial instinct. She mentioned that Indians are around 3% of UK’s population, Indian-founded companies have more than £36 billion in annual turnover and have created more than 174,000 jobs.
Avinav Nigam talked about ethical migration. He mentioned that India has surplus talent while the Global North faces skilled worker shortages of more than 85 million workers. He said that immigration systems are often exploitative and Turn Group creates transparent digital platforms for ethical migration. He described his journey as having studied at IIT Bombay and started his career in Japan with Procter & Gamble. He led AI-based platforms and property-tech firms across continents. He advocated for empathy, purpose-driven businesses, and systems that center talent and not exploit it. He mentioned that his goal was for
building systems that put power back in the hands of talent and the sending countries, not exploiters.
Vee Bharkhada talked about resilience and second chances. She mentioned her background as an East African Indian migrant and her identity as a British-Indian from a multicultural family. The goal of her company was for helping directors in crisis. Her approach was human first and not just focused on numbers. She helps clients emotionally unpack financial failures. Her advice to entrepreneurs is to not quit their stable job on a whim and build slowly by testing their business idea over 2–3 years. She mentioned that emotional burnout often precedes business failure so people should be careful about that.
Nilesh Choudhary talked about investing in India. His company helps global investors navigate Indian markets. The challenge is that India has complex, multilayered regulations. So his strategy is to educate investors to align with Indian regulatory frameworks. He believes in long-term fundamentals over short-term market sentiments. He felt that India’s strengths such as political stability, education boom, health infrastructure and medical tourism, financial inclusion and Make in India would grow the economy further in the coming years.
The panelists shared that cultural intelligence is critical and living between cultures enhances leadership adaptability. They discussed that culture isn’t a formula and it’s practiced by example. Leaders should show empathy and recognize the human behind business decisions matters. They mentioned that businesses must embed mental health, humility, and purpose. Global Indians aren’t rootless but their identities are shaped by tradition and not erased by globalization. They described that success should be measured not just by revenue, but by impact and values.
The future of ESG: A conversation on dharmic-compliant vs sharia-compliant investments
This panel had Junaid Wahedna, the Chairman of Wahed Inc and Shaunaka Rishi Das, the Director of the Oxford Centre for Hindu Studies at Oxford University as the panelists. This panel explored how faith-based investment system, specifically those related to Dharmic faiths such as Hinduism, Jainism, Buddhism and Sikhism and Shariah-compliant Islamic finance systems can collaborate to create a more ethical and values-driven global financial system.
They described that faith aligned invested began in the 1980s when religious groups pushed for divestment from Apartheid South Africa. Faith groups realized that they could align their capital with their conscience. Today, organizations like FaithInvest are helping define Catholic, Buddhist, Daoist, and Islamic investment standards.
They mentioned that around15% of global market assets are controlled by faith associated organizations. Around 8% of habitable land, 54% of schools, and 60%+ of media outlets are owned by religious institutions. There is potential for massive impact if faiths collaborated on disinvestment on issues such as fossil fuels.
Shaunaka Rishi Das described Dharma Investing in detail. He mentioned that the Oxford Centre for Hindu Studies helped develop the Dharma Index in collaboration with Dow Jones. It developed a set of investment principles rooted in non-violence, responsibility, and purpose. The Index goes beyond India and includes global yoga, vegan, and wellness communities.
Junaid Wahedna mentioned that Shariah Investing and Islamic Finance prohibits interest which is considered usury and supports wealth equality. The focus is on avoiding harm with no tobacco, weapons, or pornography investments. He noted that faith principles enhance performance andhis Shariah-compliant ETFs beat market indexes.
They discussed the common ground between Dharmic & Shariah Finance where both systems emphasize ethical screening, avoiding harmful sectors and long-term thinking. Junaid Wahedna mentioned that he could make his firm’s product entirely Dharma-compliant without changing a thing.
They mentioned that ethical investing doesn’t resonate equally across faiths. Tailoring branding such as with Shariah and Dharma makes outreach more effective while sharing the same ethical structure. They said that ethical interest is stronger among regular retail investors than high-net-worth individuals or institutions. They mentioned ESG frameworks are seen as inconsistent and vague while Faith-based investing offers clearer moral boundaries and long-term stability.
They concluded by stating that faith-aligned investing is not divisive and Dharmic and Shariah compliance can complement each other. They mentioned that India is at the perfect moment to lead a global faith-finance movement, especially with rising retail investor interest. Collaboration would help build better ethical investment platforms, benefitting all communities.
Dinner Conversation with Sachin Pilot
During the dinner concluding the conference, Sachin Pilot spoke with Rajini Vaidyanathan, a BBC News reporter and presenter. Sachin Pilot is a leader of the Congress Party in India and has been Deputy Chief Minister of Rajasthan state and Union Minister of State for Corporate Affairs and Communications and IT.
He spoke about India–UK relations being at a high point despite global turbulence. He mentioned that the long-awaited UK-India FTA is near completion; India is the UK’s 11th-largest trading partner but has much more potential. He described that the delay in the deal was due to complex interests on both sides. Immigration was a major sticking point, especially visa policies for Indian workers. He believes transparency and fairness in immigration policies are essential.
He mentioned that there are many opportunities for British Indians in India as India is open for investment and innovation. With increasing global engagement; every Indian state now competes to attract foreign capital. He encouraged British Indians and entrepreneurs to explore India’s startup ecosystem, especially in tech and services.
He described that India is making progress in deep technologies like AI and quantum computing. The Indian government has supported AI-focused startups, but private investment is needed. He emphasizes the need for regulations to prevent misuse such as cyberattacks and disinformation.
He had concerns for India-US relations under the Trump administration as the US had become increasingly isolationist. He had concerns about Trump’s unpredictable diplomacy and lack of multilateralism. He mentioned that India needs tangible benefits, not symbolic optics from the relationship between the leaders.
Regarding the recent India-Pakistan conflict, he condemned terrorism as state policy by Pakistan. He praises Indian armed forces’ for Operation Sindur post the attacks. He emphasized India’s history as a non-aggressor, focused on peace and development. He urged global powers to hold Pakistan accountable for harboring terrorists.
On the political issues in India, he mentioned that no party won a full majority after the 2024 Indian general elections. He argued it was not a sweeping BJP victory as predicted. He mentioned that there were many challenges for the Congress party due to losses in key state elections such as Maharashtra and Haryana. He attributed the underperformance to targeted investigations, jailing of opposition leaders, frozen bank accounts and stressed that the Congress party must reinvent itself with a forward-looking governance blueprint.
He praised Rahul Gandhi as the Leader of the Opposition for holding the government accountable. He said he himself is focused on Rajasthan and his current role in the Congress Party. He shared that he doesn’t have public ambitions for national leadership currently, but keeps the door open in the future.
Sachin Pilot presented a vision of India that is forward-looking, especially in trade and technology and firm on security, yet committed to peace. He presented an image of being deeply connected to global Indian diaspora and urging collaboration and innovation among the diaspora and India.
This session concluded a great Ideas for India conference for this year which got together people from different parts of the world and different interests and occupations. Ideas of India will return next year in 2026 with the goal of reaching more people and sparking deeper conversations about India and the UK and the broader world.
