Centre for Social and Economic Progress

Can India & China cooperate on climate change despite wider geopolitical tensions? This discussion hosted by CSEP explores climate diplomacy, clean energy & the geopolitics of the energy transition. youtu.be/16SR4BOcIic @ConstantinoX @IqbalSevea @ISASNus @pramamurthi1989 @karthiknach @ISEAS @SJargad

Health continues to be a vital area of India-Africa partnership, but current approaches must be recalibrated to reflect present realities. At CSEP’s event, What's Next for India-Africa Relations?, the panel "Building Resilient Health Systems in the Global South" examined what a genuinely equal, locally rooted & financially sustainable health partnership between India & Africa could look like. @angelalusigi, Resident Representative of @UNDP, articulated the central issue: "The challenge is no longer how India can support health delivery in Africa, but how Indian & African partners can jointly develop health systems that are resilient, context-specific, technologically abled & centred around people's needs." That co-creation must begin with sovereignty. Cedric Crowley, Deputy High Commissioner of South Africa, was direct: "The concept of health sovereignty & domestic pharmaceutical production has become quite critical." He called on India & Africa to jointly establish regional manufacturing hubs, strengthen regulatory systems, & support technology transfer, because "no country can achieve health sovereignty alone." Harinder Sidhu of Apollo Hospitals Group acknowledged how far the partnership has come, while pushing for what comes next: "Medical value travel has been a core component of India-Africa partnerships & has given good results. But this cannot be the only model that we go forward with." He pointed to a looming workforce crisis, a projected shortage of 11 million healthcare personnel by 2030, and called for pooling of skills, resources, & financing between India and African countries to build sustainable models at scale which are economically viable & affordable. Riti Mohapatra, from @BridgespanGroup, highlighted the catalytic role philanthropy can play in bridging the gap between public ambition & private investment: "Philanthropy can go where the private sector has not gone yet. It can provide risk capital, incubate enterprises & form market linkages where private investment can then follow." Together, the panel pointed toward a sharper proposition: the next phase of India-Africa health cooperation must move toward co-manufacturing, workforce development, digital health infrastructure, and community-rooted systems, financed through public-private-philanthropic-multilateral partnerships.

An interesting week at Centre for Social and Economic Progress with policy conversations across geopolitics, climate & public health. #ClimatePollution

CSEP Fellow @shyambesu quoted in @livemint by @kartik_ayaan & @Moreorleshphil on the Centre’s plans to expand EV adoption across PSUs & state governments & what it could mean for India’s electric mobility transition. Read here: livemint.com/news/india/cen… @TataMotors @HMGnewsroom @Maruti_Corp @MahindraRise @VinFastofficial @TheJSWGroup @TheICCT_India

“India’s total R&D spending remains at 0.7% of GDP, roughly the same level as in the early 1990s. Worse, private sector R&D is only about 0.3% of GDP. China’s investment is nearly 16 times larger than ours.” Dr Rakesh Mohan of @CSEP_Org asks: If GCCs can bet on India’s talent, why can’t Indian firms? Watch his conversation with @govindethiraj here: youtube.com/watch?v=ce5YN6…

Technology is becoming a key anchor of India-Africa cooperation & development. At “What’s Next for India–Africa Relations?”, the panel “Critical Technologies in a Contested World,” focused on how India & Africa can work together across digital public infrastructure, clean energy, critical minerals, agricultural innovation & technology safeguards. Bringing the critical African perspective, @Chylo360, Professor, @JindalGlobalUNI noted, that "with minerals, the rest of the world has often approached Africa to come in and extract.” India’s opportunity is to help change that model through deeper co-development and implementation. That shift depends first on energy. @Ashish_Khanna, Director General, @isolaralliance put it clearly: “Energy is the binding constraint for growth in Africa. You cannot have digitisation, health, growth without energy.” It also means moving beyond extraction. Rajat Verma, Founder and CEO, @lohum argued that “India needs to bring its refining and processing capabilities to Africa, not just because it is rule mandated, but in the true spirit of partnership.” On digital public infrastructure, Sanjay Jain, Director of Digital Public Infrastructure, @gatesfoundation stressed adaptation over replication: “The principles of DPI need to be taken from India and then localised.” But scale must come with safeguards. As Raja Rajeshwari Chandrasekharan, DPI Safeguards Advisor, @UNDP cautioned, “DPI is one of the best exports that India has created. But when DPI is poorly designed and deployed, it can run into many risks like cyber security, vendor lock-ins, exclusionary risks & capacity issues.” Together, the discussion underscored a sharper proposition: the next phase of India–Africa technology cooperation must connect energy access, digital systems, critical minerals, local value creation & risk mitigation. CSEP’s Africa hub, TARA, is focused precisely on this intersection: bringing together policy research, industry insight, multilateral experience & development practice to identify how cooperation can move from ambition to delivery. @vedavn

India imports roughly $120 billion worth of goods from China while exporting only around $20 billion. Dr Rakesh Mohan of @CSEP_Org says India’s “restrictive” policies are doing little to fix this trade imbalance, especially at a time when the country needs stronger foreign capital flows. In a conversation with @govindethiraj.

“Why would I expect foreign investors, both direct and portfolio, to invest in our real economy when domestic investors themselves are not investing at the pace they should?” This is a genuine puzzle to me because the corporate balance sheets are good, Dr Rakesh Mohan of @CSEP_Org tells @govindethiraj. Listen in!

What if climate resilience is not a cost, but a macro-financial asset? A new blog from CSEP explores why resilience must become central to economic & financial policy. Read here: csep.org/blog/why-resil…

CSEP Associate Fellow @GaneshSivamani quoted in @ThePrintIndia by @uditbubna on why Russian crude continues to remain central to India’s oil import strategy amid global energy market volatility. Read here: theprint.in/economy/waiver… #OilCrisisPolitics @PetroleumMin @Kpler @Shrru_art @refineryritolia @NayaraEnergy @RIL_Updates @IndianOilcl

How did Rajasthan shape urban health & elementary education policy between 2014–2024? A new presentation by @psingh_2016 from CSEP examines the drivers, priorities & governance choices behind state-led initiatives. View here: csep.org/wp-content/upl… @asercentre

Interested in courts, governance & public policy? The Pendency Lab at CSEP is inviting interns to work on research around judicial delay, court efficiency & institutional reform in India. 📍 Chennai (hybrid preferred) 📅 June–Aug 2026 ⏳ Rolling applications till 1 June csep.org/wp-content/upl…

How should India engage with China on climate & clean energy? A new working paper from CSEP by @pramamurthi1989 & @SJargad explores the strategic, geopolitical & economic dimensions of climate cooperation. Read: csep.org/working-paper/… #ClimateEmergencyNow @MEABharat @mnreindia @NITIAayog @BricsIndia2026

A recent @bsindia story on India’s rising copper import dependence references research from CSEP by @DrRajeshChadha1 + @TanimaPal14 & includes insights on structural gaps in the copper sector. business-standard.com/economy/news/i…

This series of closed-door research seminars is curated by CSEP Senior Fellow @ConstantinoX & Distinguished Fellow @ShivshankaMenon. It focuses on contemporary, evidence-based research with policy relevance to bridge Delhi's scholar-practitioner divide. (4/4)

@AmritaNarlikar, Distinguished Fellow, @orfonline & Honorary Fellow, @DarwinCollege, @Cambridge_Uni was the discussant. The session was moderated by @pramamurthi1989, Fellow, CSEP. (3/4)

CSEP hosted its 40th Foreign Policy & Security Studies Tiffin Talk on How Indian Diplomats Navigate National Climate Ambitions with @AxelNordenstam, Associate Fellow, Swedish Institute of International Affairs’ Asia Program. (1/4)

🌍 What’s Next for India–Africa Relations? At the @CSEP_Org Conference held today, the Director General of the International Solar Alliance, Mr @Ashish_Khanna Khanna, highlighted key priorities shaping the future of India–Africa cooperation across energy, agriculture, and urban systems. He emphasized the growing role of #digitisation as a foundational enabler to scale energy access and improve coordination. Underscoring the urgency of the challenge, he noted that hundreds of millions across Africa still lacked access to electricity. Referring to the #M300 initiative, he shared that efforts had been underway to provide energy access to 300 million people, while India remained the only country to have already achieved this scale since 2010. ⚡ Key insights: 🔆 Africa possessed nearly 60% of global solar potential but had received less than 1% of investments, highlighting gaps in policy and regulatory clarity. 🔆Decentralized solar solutions were critical to reaching underserved populations. 🔆Food security was central to the energy transition, with only 4% of agricultural land in Africa irrigated, compared to 55–60% in India, making solar-powered irrigation a key opportunity. 🔆Urban mobility was identified as a growing focus area, where clean energy could transform rapidly expanding cities. 🔆The biggest barriers were not just financing, but risk perception, lack of local currency financing, and skills gaps. He also highlighted the opportunity for entrepreneurs to expand into African markets by building scalable, locally adapted business models across solar, e-mobility, and energy services, leveraging India’s experience in cost-effective innovation. The discussion reinforced that unlocking Africa’s energy potential would require a strong ecosystem approach, anchored in policy clarity, digitisation, decentralized solutions, integration with agriculture, urban mobility, and patient capital. #IndiaAfrica #ISA #EnergyAccess #SolarEnergy #ClimateAction #SustainableDevelopment

What’s Next for India-#Africa Relations? Rich discussions on tech, health, energy and climate-driven driven developmental solutions. Thank you @SudhakarDalela for inaugural address on India’s commitment to work with Africa in partnership mode. Launch of our @CSEP_Org @NEPAD_Agency report by @vedavn and Pamela Gopaul with 100+ recommendations for govts, multilaterals, industry and civil society: csep.org/reports/the-af…