Prime Minister (PM) Narendra Modi’s visit to Evian to attend the G7 Summit as a Special Guest of French President Emmanuel Macron is an opportunity for reflection. To start with, it shows not just how quickly time has flown but how easily we have come to accept India’s presence at a G7 Summit as the new normal.

Evian, in particular, has special significance. It was here in 2003 that India, under PM Atal Bihari Vajpayee, made its debut appearance at a G7 Summit, with an invitation from French President Jacques Chirac. From there, India went on to become a regular invitee to the G7’s outreach meetings, till the 2008 financial crisis led to establishment of the G20 Leaders’ Summit. India has attended 12 G7 outreach sessions so far — the one at Evian will be Modi’s seventh.

The G7 is a grouping of the most advanced western economies and is a politico-economic club. Its bet, or more specifically, France’s bet, on India 23 years ago stands fully vindicated. India’s nominal GDP has risen seven times since 2003, to $4 trillion today. The figure would have been higher, if not for the series of external shocks to the economy since 2020. Despite this, India remains the world’s fastest-growing economy.

The India story is a rare silver lining in a world that is witnessing even more conflict than in 2003. Then, the........

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