Europe’s factories to African startups—how India can act as a bridge between economies

Illustration: Ramandeep Kaur/ThePrint

Not long ago I heard a global CEO joke that India’s payment apps impress the world, yet our biggest export deals still settle in dollars. The comment stayed with me because it captured the paradox of modern India: a country with the tools and talent to bridge East and West, but not choosing to think bigger. 

Today’s global landscape is splintering. Rising tensions between the United States and China have prompted supply-chain realignments from Vietnam to Mexico. Political blocs, tariff walls, and digital standards are being remade in real time.

In this environment, many countries must choose sides. India, by contrast, can carve a third path: a true bridge economy that unites disparate markets through aligned infrastructure, finance, and digital networks.

India’s unique value proposition

The first piece of this bridge is production. India’s Production Linked Incentive-driven factories are churning out smartphones, solar panels, and auto components on a scale unseen a decade ago. Exporters in Pune now ship precision parts as easily to Stuttgart in Germany as they do to Lagos in Nigeria. Our manufacturing base overlaps the needs of advanced economies (where quality matters) and the rising purchasing power of the emerging economies. That dual fit is rare, and it underpins India’s unique value proposition.

Digital rails reinforce this bridge. UPI’s transaction volumes surpassed global giants like Visa, turning wallets into gateways. Early UPI trials in the UAE and Singapore show how a rupee-linked digital corridor can settle micropayments instantly, without intermediary banks. If India extends these rails to East Africa, Southeast Asia, and the Gulf, small businesses from Nairobi to Jakarta could transact with Indian partners as effortlessly as they do with local vendors. Digital payment networks are the plumbing of the 21st-century bridge. With our digital rails in place, the next step is ensuring those goods move as smoothly across ports and borders. 

Yet infrastructure alone is not enough. Logistics bottlenecks still cast a shadow on our ambition. Ports in Chennai and Mundra must match the reliability of the one in Rotterdam. Customs processes need one-stop clearance rather than a paper marathon. A streamlined ‘bridge corridor’ policy and an inter-agency task force with fast-track approvals for strategic goods could cut lead times by weeks. Simple  fixes like pre-arrival filing and GPS-enabled cargo tracking will make India a dependable partner rather than a calculated risk.

Financing these linkages demands equally innovative capital solutions. India’s foreign exchange reserves, nearing $700 billion, are a sleeping giant. A dedicated bridge fund, seeded from these funds, could co-invest in corridor projects, roads in Bangladesh, tech parks in Malaysia, and rail links in the Gulf. By settling investments in rupees or multi-currency baskets, we would insulate ourselves from dollar shocks while deepening regional dependence on India’s financial architecture.

Sovereign wealth funds and pension pools, the true republics of capital, have amassed vast war chests. What if India invited them to co-invest in a pan-Asian logistics bond, underwritten by a rupee-denominated framework and local swap lines? Global investors, always hunting yield and stability, might find the proposition irresistible. That would mark a shift from passive reserve accumulation to active economic statecraft. Of course, if local investors remain tentative or hedging costs prove high, these bonds could underperform. Early public-private pilot guarantees and built-in risk-sharing provisions will be crucial to bring markets on board.

Human capital forms the final span of the bridge. India must build skills hubs tied to strategic sectors. Electric vehicle training centres in Gurgaon, semiconductor labs in Pune, and digital health academies in Hyderabad would ensure that our workforce matches the technical demands of global partners. 

Public-private partnerships can bring industry experts into the classroom, compressing the learning curve and exporting India’s talent edge abroad.

Geopolitics, however, underpins every structural move. The Quad and the Indo-Pacific Economic Framework for Prosperity (IPEF) frameworks create institutional trust, but they must translate into economic action. Imagine joint India-Japan-Australia roadshows that promote a rupee-denominated investment corridor from Coimbatore to Canberra, backed by a state-level task force to process approvals and open escrow accounts in local currencies quickly. Those are the initiatives that turn summits into deliverables. 

Not a half-baked concept

Critics may say these are lofty ambitions. Yet India has a history of exceeding expectations—landline shortages turned into digital ubiquity, and cash economies leapfrogged to mobile payments. The bridge economy vision simply extends that pattern: marshal our proven innovations in manufacturing, digital, and finance into a coherent strategy that serves both developed and emerging partners.

The bridge concept is not a half-baked marketing slogan. It demands a centre of gravity in policy—perhaps a ‘Bridge Economy Council’ reporting to the prime minister, with representation from  finance, commerce, technology, and foreign affairs. Clear metrics such as shipment lead times, digital corridor transactions and rupee settlement volumes would replace vague targets with measurable progress.

In a world where many retreat behind trade barriers and digital red lines, India’s opportunity lies in connecting. We can channel capital into corridor projects, extend digital rails across borders, and train the workforce for tomorrow’s demands. By weaving together infrastructure, finance, skills and diplomacy, India can become the economy that unites fractured markets.

Pulling this off will take bold moves and fast follow-through, not another round of committee meetings. Europe’s factories are eyeing new partners, African startups need rock-solid payment rails, and Gulf funds want dependable returns. India is sitting right in the sweet spot—if we’re brave enough to grab the reins.

We can choose to remain a promising outlier or embrace our role as the bridge economy of the 21st century. The difference will be in our willingness to lead, build, and connect. If we act decisively, India will not just find its place in a fragmenting world. It will define the next chapter of global integration.

The author is a vice president at a global investment firm in New York. He tweets @ak47who. Views are personal.

(Edited by Aamaan Alam Khan)