Indian Politics & Policy Volume 1, Number 2, Fall 2018 | Page 58

Foreign Assistance in India’s Foreign Policy: Political and Economic Determinants Eswaran Sridharan University of Pennsylvania Institute for the Advanced Study of India, New Delhi [email protected] Aashik Jain MetLife GOSC [email protected] Indian Politics & Policy • Vol. 1, No. 2 • Fall 2018 Abstract This paper describes and analyzes the emerging Indian development cooperation program in the context of India’s foreign relations and policy. The paper begins by situating India and other emerging donors in the international aid architecture. It then analyzes the Indian program in terms of the key questions—how much, to whom, for what, how, and why?—focusing on the quantum, direction, modalities, institutions, and, crucially, motivations. It describes in detail the relationships with the main recipients in South Asia, Afghanistan, Myanmar, and with Africa, situating the assistance program in the larger political and security context of India’s foreign policy and India’s trade and investment relationships. It is argued that the Indian development cooperation program’s South Asian regional and extended neighborhood focus is largely politically and security-motivated and the emerging shift in focus to Africa is for long-term relationship building rather than immediately correlated with trade and investment relationships. The program does not impose macroeconomic policy conditions but is largely tied to Indian-sourced supplies. Keywords: South Asia, Sub-Saharan Africa, policy, security, foreign aid, partnership Resumen Este documento describe y analiza el emergente programa de cooperación para el desarrollo de la India en el contexto de las relacio- 55 doi: 10.18278/inpp.1.2.3