People-to-People Connections Lead, Markets Follow: India’s Dance of Trust and Trade

Markets do not emerge in a vacuum. They follow migration, culture, education, and human connection, which are the realities that now sit at the core of India’s foreign policy. In a world where diplomacy increasingly transcends government halls, India is betting on people-to-people (P2P) engagement as a strategic lever, connecting soft power with tangible economic outcomes.

From cultural festivals to diaspora networks, from universities to startup incubators, India is crafting a model where human relationships are not just symbolic but are engines of trade, investment, and innovation.

From Soft Power to Tangible Markets

People-centric diplomacy operates as a pre-economic enabler. Trust, familiarity, and shared norms that are built through sustained societal engagement shape perceptions of risk and reliability, influencing commercial and collaborative decisions.

From yoga studios in Europe to Indian-origin CEOs in Silicon Valley, India’s economic footprint increasingly begins with people, not policies. Its soft power, rooted in culture, democratic values, pluralism, and knowledge traditions, lowers informational and cultural barriers, enhances the reputational capital of Indian firms, and prepares the ground for concrete economic partnerships.

Take International Yoga Day, established in 2014. Within a few years, yoga schools, wellness retreats, and Ayurveda clinics across Europe, the U.S., and Asia flourished. What began as a cultural initiative evolved into a global economic ecosystem supporting wellness exports, international health research collaborations, and startups delivering Ayurvedic products worldwide. This is a template for how culture can seed economic sectors before formal policy intervention.

Similarly, India’s films, music, and cuisine have become vectors of commerce. A single Indian film festival in Brazil triggered a surge in tourism, cultural exchange, and investments in Indian media and IT projects.

Diaspora: The Economic Bridge Across Borders

No actor embodies the fusion of identity and economics more powerfully than India’s global diaspora. Spread across continents, these communities facilitate trade, investment, technology transfer, and labor mobility, often acting as living bridges between home and host markets.

Consider Indian-origin founders in Silicon Valley, who collectively raised billions in venture capital over the last decade. These entrepreneurs channel talent, investment, and innovation back to India while fostering high-value services trade with the U.S., turning cultural affinity into measurable economic outcomes.

In the Gulf, Indian expatriates link small businesses in Kerala to suppliers and investors in the UAE. Beyond remittances, these networks enable cross-border trade, startup funding, and labor mobility. When human relationships are treated as strategic assets, diplomacy evolves from managing power to multiplying opportunity.

Across these diaspora networks, several case studies illustrate impact:

• India–U.S. Tech Partnerships: Indian-origin scientists at NASA and leading tech firms collaborate with Indian universities on AI, space, and renewable energy projects. These partnerships generate patents, startups, and joint ventures, bridging knowledge gaps between India and the U.S.

  
  

• India–Middle East Labor and Fintech Collaboration: Indian fintech firms work with Gulf banks to provide remittance and microfinance solutions for expatriates. This improves financial inclusion while creating new revenue streams and strengthening bilateral investment links.

  
  

• India–Africa: Development partnerships, training programs, and diaspora networks have expanded market access, infrastructure investment, and South–South entrepreneurship.

These examples illustrate that diaspora engagement extends far beyond financial remittances by transforming human capital, knowledge, and innovation into economic bridges across continents.

Culture, Wellness, and the Creative Economy

Culture is not merely ornamental but a currency of trust. Indian festivals, films, cuisine, and wellness practices like yoga and Ayurveda foster curiosity, reduce perceived risk for foreign partners, and create emotional bonds that underpin commercial transactions.

In Brazil, an Indian film festival catalyzed tourism and long-term investments in Indian media and IT collaborations. In Europe and the U.S., yoga schools, wellness retreats, and Ayurveda clinics generate millions in economic activity, exporting both health products and knowledge.

By linking culture with commerce, India demonstrates how heritage can underpin modern economic ecosystems. Wellness tourism, lifestyle exports, and creative industries are proof that identity-driven soft power can translate into measurable economic gains. Cultural familiarity often precedes trust, which in turn precedes markets.

Education, Startups, and Digital Connectivity

Education, innovation, and connectivity are the pillars of India’s modern P2P diplomacy. Educational exchanges, research collaborations, and international alumni networks nurture long-term knowledge ecosystems. Alumni often emerge as informal ambassadors, shaping perceptions of India while opening doors for trade, collaboration, and investment.

Startup diplomacy amplifies India’s global role in innovation:

• India–ASEAN Startups: Under the Act East framework, a Singapore-based incubator partnered with an Indian startup. Within two years, it scaled into a regional platform serving multiple ASEAN countries, supported by diaspora mentorship, bilateral government facilitation, and cultural familiarity.

• Digital Diplomacy: Indian SMEs leverage online platforms to collaborate globally, access international markets, and participate in virtual trade, levelling the playing field for smaller players.

Tourism and educational exchange complement these efforts, generating demand for hospitality, transport, and local industries while reshaping perceptions of India abroad. Over time, these networks reinforce trust, knowledge flow, and economic connectivity.

Strategic Policies Meet People Power

India’s people-centric approach complements its broader diplomatic initiatives, aligning strategy with market outcomes.

G20 Leadership: Shaping Global Economic Agendas: India leverages its G20 role to foreground inclusive growth, sustainable finance, and development-centric globalization. This agenda-setting strengthens investor confidence, encourages policy coordination, and amplifies digital governance and fintech collaboration. Soft power here evolves into high-stakes economic influence.

Act East Policy: Markets Meet Geopolitics: Deepening ties with Southeast and East Asia, the Act East Policy integrates strategic objectives with trade and investment. People-to-people exchanges, business networks, and innovation partnerships drive startup collaboration, diversify trade with ASEAN, and bolster manufacturing and renewable energy investments.

Neighbourhood First & Economics of Proximity: Regional stability and prosperity underpin domestic growth. Civil society engagement, energy cooperation, and connectivity in South Asia expand trade and services opportunities, while SMEs benefit from regional supply networks.

Global South Engagement: India frames its outreach in Africa, Latin America, and other developing regions as partnership-based. Lines of credit, training programs, and technology sharing create new export markets, infrastructure investments, and South–South entrepreneurship.

• India–Brazil: Indian film festivals sparked tourism and long-term media and IT collaborations.

  
  

• India–Africa: Structured development partnerships facilitated market access, infrastructure growth, and entrepreneurial cooperation.

The real test of people-to-people diplomacy lies not in intent, but in outcomes. India’s case studies reveal that economic returns are measurable when human relationships are treated as strategic assets.

Overcoming Challenges

Despite its promise, P2P diplomacy faces persistent hurdles:

• Mobility restrictions: Asymmetric visa regimes restrict students, professionals, and researchers.

  
  

• Geopolitical tensions: Regional rivalries and strategic mistrust disrupt civil society collaboration and investment flows.

  
  

• Cultural and perception gaps: Language differences and divergent business norms can prevent soft power from translating into sustained economic cooperation.

  
  

• Unequal distribution of benefits: Gains often concentrate in urban centers and large firms, sidelining SMEs and less-developed regions.

It is known to all that soft power is a potential, not an automatic, economic outcome. It requires deliberate scaffolding, coordination, and inclusion to succeed.

Pathways to Deepen Impact

To fully leverage people-to-people diplomacy, India must adopt a multi-pronged approach that converts human connections into durable economic outcomes. Expanding mobility-friendly frameworks, including reciprocal skills-based visas, can facilitate the movement of students, professionals, and entrepreneurs, ensuring knowledge and talent flow unhindered across borders.

Institutionalising city-to-city partnerships, university collaborations, and Track-II diplomacy provides continuity beyond political cycles, creating stable channels for engagement. Cultural diplomacy can be integrated with trade fairs, innovation forums, and SME-focused digital platforms, linking affective ties directly to commerce and enterprise. Simultaneously, leveraging digital infrastructure for virtual exchanges enables scale, inclusivity, and access for actors across geographies and sectors.

Together, these measures ensure that diplomacy evolves beyond policy statements, becoming a strategic instrument that fosters societal integration, market access, and equitable economic partnerships.

From Human Relationships to Market Realities

For India, the future of economic diplomacy lies not only in negotiating access to markets, but in cultivating access to societies. By weaving culture, diaspora networks, education, tourism, digital engagement, and multilateral leadership into initiatives like Act East, Neighbourhood First, G20 leadership, and Global South partnerships, India creates resilient pathways from trust to markets.

In an interconnected world, economic statecraft is no longer about leverage alone. It is about relationships, trust, and the ability to turn human connections into tangible prosperity. India’s journey demonstrates that when diplomacy starts with people, markets inevitably follow.