Describing India as “economic giant”, Russian President Vladimir Putin on Wednesday said the multipolar world has no hegemon and everyone has equal rights.
Putin said despite “economic giants” like India
and China as members, groupings like the BRICS do not discuss world domination.
“The multipolar world has no hegemon, everyone has equal rights. Despite having economic giants like India and China as members, groupings like BRICS do not talk about the idea of domination of politics or global security,” Putin told reporters at the end of his visit to Beijing for the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) summit, where he interacted with the host, Chinese President Xi Jinping, and Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
His remarks come amid India’s tariff tussle with the United States and growing tensions between the two countries resulting from failed negotiations over a vital trade deal. The Trump administration has imposed a 50 percent tariff on Indian goods, justifying it as “punishment” over New Delhi’s purchase of Russian crude oil.
Putin said his “formal and informal” talks with Chinese leaders have been “useful” and had “positive” outcomes. “While leading EU (European Union) economies fall into recession, global ones are moving ahead, especially in the Asia-Pacific,” he said. “Formal and informal talks with leaders in China have been useful and had positive outcomes.”
His remarks gain significance, especially in light of US President Donald Trump’s dismissal of the Indian economy as being a “dead” one. He recently made a startling claim that during the now-stalled trade deal talks, India “offered” to cut its tariffs on US goods to “nothing” while explaining this statement by saying the US does “very little business” with India and his country was New Delhi’s “biggest” client.
The Indian economy, meanwhile, has grown by a stronger-than-expected 7.8 percent in the first quarter (April-June) of this fiscal. These numbers are, however, before Trump imposed tariffs that could now cloud the outlook, threatening key exports like textiles.
Nevertheless, India remains the fastest-growing major economy as China’s GDP growth in the April-June period was 5.2 percent. Earlier this month, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) had projected the real GDP growth rate for 2025-26 at 6.5 percent — 6.5 percent in Q1, 6.7 percent in Q2, 6.6 percent in Q3, and 6.3 percent in Q4.
(With agency inputs)
