By Andrew Hammond

It was not many years ago that Narendra Modi’s reputation in Europe, and much of the rest of the world, was dogged by controversy surrounding his political past. However, the Indian prime minister is now widely feted internationally.

This factor was highlighted, most recently, during Modi’s state visit to the UK. Modi was accorded all the pomp that the UK state could muster, including a meeting with King Charles. The political icing on the cake was the signing with UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer of the newly agreed India-UK trade deal that will boost bilateral trade on goods and services which was estimated at around £41 billion ($55 billion) in the 12 months through to September 2024, according to the UK government.

The huge lure of India for the EU and much of the rest of the West is not just economic, tantalizing as the prospect is of a market projected, according to Morgan Stanley, as being on a pathway to surpass Japan and Germany to become the world’s third-largest economy in coming years. This includes a middle-class consumer market expected to reach about 95 million by 2035, a number larger than the current population of every EU nation, including Germany.

In addition, India is widely perceived in the West as a relatively friendly, long-term geopolitical ally. During the Cold War, India was aligned with the Soviet Union, and had a protectionist economy........

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