Leveraging India’s Goodwill in Latin America as ‘Soft Power’

Abstract

Although India commands considerable goodwill in the Latin American region, it does little to leverage this to conduct economic diplomacy. It is imperative to study the nature of India’s image and goodwill in Latin America, and subsequently, differentiate it from how the region views other countries, before examining if and how this can be leveraged as soft power. Based on interviews with select experts in Latin America, we can gather certain insights that separate India’s image from other countries in the region. Perhaps the biggest point of consensus amongst all the experts interviewed is the sheer lack of knowledge about India amongst the general population in Latin America – with the caveat that many niche segments, including businesspersons, journalists and academics have a reasonable amount of knowledge of India, including the contemporary, ‘New India.’ The Indian government can work together with stakeholders in Latin America to help increase awareness of the country, including the elements of the old and the new, be it yoga, Ayurveda and literature or the New India’s IT, pharmaceutical and manufacturing investments in the region, as well as the reach of Indian cinema and entertainment.