India seems to have departed from catch-all, overarching initiatives in Africa to rather more nuanced ways of making its contribution felt, such as helping fashion G20’s ‘Compact with Africa’. Many countries are also keen to avail of Indian companies’ knowledge and experience of investing in Africa and the presence of the large diaspora—and such trilateral cooperation is to be welcomed

A conference of the BRICS 2017 Think Tank Forum, held in Beijing recently, showed that the grouping had progressed in influencing global governance despite some persistent intra-member differences

Speakers at the ‘1st BRICS Think Tank Forum on Pragmatic Cooperation’, held in Shanghai last month, discussed ways to tackle new challenges as globalisation moves into the next phase where the BRICS countries will take the lead

Trends in technology, geopolitics and geoeconomics have dramatically transformed the global energy scenario in the last two years. This means favourable conditions for import-dependent India, which must use the opportunities available to reduce its vulnerability to high energy prices. The jump in oil prices past the $60 mark suggests that India must act with alacrity. India’s Energy Footprint Map offers a profile of India’s global trade and investment in energy, and indicates what India can do to access cheap and reliable supplies

New Delhi now has the capacity to move beyond the basics of economic diplomacy by using the strengths of India's private sector in healthcare. Africa would welcome such an initiative, which will improve the health and development capabilities of African countries. This will also serve India’s geopolitical objectives and can precede a similar healthcare rollout to other regions

Prime Minister Narendra Modi's announcement on November 8 to demonetise notes of the denomination of Rs 500 and Rs 1000 has a precedent. This infographic traces some interesting demonetisation initiatives around the world. From discontinuation of high denomination notes due to lack of circulation, to the use of beer and water as 'real assets' in place of hyper-inflated currency.

Perhaps South Block did not gain as much as it had hoped to: there was a gulf in member states’ perceptions. One takeaway, therefore, for policy makers was that while noise has its uses, it is now time for some quiet diplomacy

This infographic seeks to trace the evolution of BRICS from O’Neill’s original vision to its current form, while illustrating how intra-BRICS trade has evolved over the past 15 years.

The recent inauguration of the New Development Bank in Shanghai has made that city a focal point of international financial transactions between the five BRICS countries. This occasions revisiting some of the ways in which Bombay has been historically linked to it