India’s Bilateral Development Partnerships with Global South

‘The Government of India’s approach to Development Partnership has been shaped by India’s struggle for independence and solidarity with other colonized and developing countries and the inspiring leadership of Mahatma Gandhi who said "I do want to think in terms of the whole world. My patriotism includes the good of mankind in general. Therefore, my service to India includes the service of humanity”. Despite its own resource constraints, India has been sharing its developmental experiences and technical expertise with other countries in the spirit of "Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam”.

India’s approach to development is mainly human-centric and is marked by Respect, Diversity, Care for the future, and Sustainable development. For India, the most fundamental principle in cooperation is respecting development partners and be guided by their development priorities. India’s development cooperation does not come with any conditions, as stated by the Hon’ble Prime Minister of India in his address at the Parliament of Uganda in July 2018, "Our development partnership will be guided by your priorities. It will be on terms that will be comfortable for you, that will liberate your potential and not constrain your future… We will build as much local capacity and create as many local opportunities as possible”.

Indian model of developmental cooperation is comprehensive and involves multiple instruments including grant-in-aid, line of credit and capacity building and technical assistance. Depending on the priorities of partner countries, India’s development cooperation ranges from commerce to culture, energy to engineering, health to housing, IT to infrastructure, sports to science, disaster relief and humanitarian assistance to restoration and preservation of cultural and heritage assets.’