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RIC and India’s Strategic Autonomy
RIC and India’s Strategic Autonomy: A Powerful Balancing Act in Global Geopolitics
Context: The revival of the Russia–India–China (RIC) dialogue in 2025 comes at a time when US–China tensions, Trump’s tariff escalations on India and China, and Russia’s post-Ukraine alignment with Beijing are reshaping the global order.
What is the significance of the Russia-India-China (RIC) triangle in the global order?
- Counterbalance to Western dominance: The RIC format, conceptualised by Russia in the late 1990s, provides a platform to promote multipolarity and resist unilateralism. Together, the three countries account for 31% of global GDP (PPP, 2025) and 37% of the world’s population, making it an important counterweight to the G7.
- Strategic and security cooperation: All three are nuclear powers and major defence spenders (China: $266 bn, Russia: $126 bn, India: $77 bn in 2025). Their participation in BRICS, SCO, and G20 strengthens coordination on security and energy. For instance, the International North-South Transport Corridor (INSTC) and the Chennai–Vladivostok maritime corridor reflect Eurasian integration where RIC cooperation could enhance connectivity.
- India’s leverage: RIC helps India showcase its strategic autonomy—balancing between QUAD and non-Western platforms. The Economic Survey 2022-23 highlights India’s multipolar approach as critical for energy security and technology partnerships.
What are the major challenges with RIC in the international system?
- India–China tensions: The Galwan clashes (2020) and China’s continued support to Pakistan in terms of military and diplomatic aid remain the biggest hurdles. India’s trade deficit with China further deepens mistrust.
- Russia’s China tilt: Post-Ukraine war, Russia has grown economically dependent on China (bilateral trade worth $244.8 bn in 2024). This raises concerns about the impartiality of RIC as a platform for India.
- Divergent strategic alignments: India’s role in QUAD and Indo-Pacific Oceans Initiative conflicts with China’s vision of a unipolar Asia. At the same time, Russia’s engagement with Pakistan for Central Asian access adds complexity.
- Economic imbalances: India’s imports from both Russia (oil, defence) and China (manufactures) outweigh exports, creating BoP asymmetry. The Economic Survey 2024-25 underlines such trade imbalances as a vulnerability in external relations.
How can the challenges be addressed?
- Confidence-building with China: Progress on LAC disengagement, halting Chinese military aid to Pakistan, and addressing trade imbalance through calibrated industrial policy (e.g., PLI scheme) are essential for trust-building.
- Russia as a mediator: Moscow, with its long-standing “Special and Privileged Strategic Partnership” with India, can act as a neutral facilitator. Joint ventures like BrahMos missiles show that trilateral cooperation in defence technology is possible if Russia balances its ties.
- Issue-based coalitions: India can strengthen RIC cooperation in climate negotiations, WTO reform, rare earth supply chains, and energy transition—domains where interests converge. The Down to Earth report (2024) highlights how climate finance coordination among emerging economies could boost bargaining power at COP summits.
- Maintaining strategic autonomy: India must avoid being locked into a camp. Participation in RIC alongside QUAD showcases a flexible, interest-based foreign policy, allowing India to leverage both Western technology and Eurasian energy-security partnerships.
