From Ghana to Guyana: Is PM Modi's Global South push India's quiet strategy to lead a new post-West global order?
Over the past year, Modi's foreign trips, especially to countries across Africa, Asia, Latin America, and the Caribbean, appear to be part of a broader plan.
A plan where India is quietly positioning itself as the leading voice of the Global South and, perhaps, shaping an alternative to the traditional West-led global order.
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Since August 2024, Modi has visited over 20 countries. While some visits were to major powers like the US, Russia, and France, the bulk of his travel map covers Global South nations: Ghana, Guyana, Nigeria, Sri Lanka, Mauritius, Laos, Brunei, Brazil, Trinidad and Tobago, Argentina, Namibia, and Thailand, among others. The message? India is deepening its engagement with countries that often feel underrepresented in global decision-making.
Ghana to Guyana: Deeds, not just declarations
In July 2025, Modi became the first Indian PM in 30 years to visit Ghana. During the trip, India and Ghana announced a "comprehensive partnership" focusing on defence, trade, counter-terrorism, and digital cooperation. Modi pledged to double bilateral trade from $3 billion to $6 billion and was awarded Ghana's highest civilian honour.
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He also thanked Ghana for standing with India after the Pahalgam terror attack and reiterated India's commitment to 'voicing concerns of the Global South.' It's a line he's used often, and with increasing intent.
In Guyana, Mauritius, and Sri Lanka too, India has built partnerships through tech cooperation, vaccine aid, training programmes, and digital payment infrastructure. This isn't charity, it's strategy.
In Trinidad as well, this was Modi's first visit to the country as Prime Minister, and the first Indian bilateral visit at the prime ministerial level to Trinidad and Tobago since 1999.
What is the Global South?
The term broadly refers to developing countries in Africa, Asia, and Latin America, nations that share post-colonial experiences, economic challenges, and a desire for more influence in global governance. India, with its fast-growing economy and diplomatic bandwidth, sees itself as a natural leader of this bloc.
In fact, back in January 2023, India hosted the inaugural
Voice of Global South
Summit with the theme "Unity of Voice, Unity of Purpose." Modi has invoked that phrase repeatedly ever since. And during his 2024 UNGA speech in New York, he declared, 'We are also a strong voice of the Global South. Today, when India says something on a global platform, the world listens.'
In Ghana, he added, 'Progress cannot come without giving voice to the Global South.'
India: More than a bridge
For decades, India positioned itself as a bridge between developed and developing nations. But the recent pattern, over 12 Global South countries visited in under a year, signals a shift from bridging gaps to building blocs.
India's offerings go beyond diplomacy. From UPI tech and cybersecurity support to education and healthcare training, these partnerships are designed to create long-term strategic alignment. It's India's soft power fused with hard interests, defence deals, counter-terrorism cooperation, and trade expansion.
NAM 2.0, with India at the helm?
While Modi hasn't revived the Non-Aligned Movement in name, his actions evoke echoes of that era, minus the Cold War context. Instead of choosing sides, India appears to be building one: a loose coalition of emerging economies looking for a fairer, more representative global system.
In a world where post-WWII institutions increasingly feel outdated, India is positioning itself as a reformer, and perhaps a leader, of a new, post-West world order.
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