India has been confirmed as the fastest-growing major economy globally, with IMF estimates showing growth expected to be more than twice the global average in the near future. As per CII Director General Chandrajit Banerjee, India is now seen as a trusted partner—able to engage across regions, build bridges and offer stability amidst uncertainty. This unique positioning gives India a unique vantage point to shape global conversations on trade, technology, climate and development. The country's economic trajectory has been described as 'riding the Reform Express' by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who emphasized that despite global shocks over the past decade including the pandemic, geopolitical tensions and supply chain disruptions, India has recorded 'unprecedented development' and strong policy delivery.
India faces significant economic pressures that require urgent policy attention. According to reports from Business Standard, the country runs a current-account deficit that, while not large, still requires stable foreign flows for financing. This challenge is particularly acute as India experiences capital outflows and may face its third consecutive year of balance of payments deficit this financial year. The crisis in West Asia is currently affecting capital flows, though a truce in the region would provide short-term relief.
India's governance journey is entering a new phase where the country is reimagining itself as a 'testbed state' for global public innovation. As highlighted by ORF research, the first step was about building systems at scale—expanding access, infrastructure, and service delivery. The next phase involves refining these systems through continuous experimentation to keep them responsive, efficient, and aligned with evolving needs and aspirations. The idea of a 'testbed state' captures this shift: from implementation to iteration, from policy certainty to adaptive design, and from national delivery to global contribution. Policies are no longer fixed endpoints but evolving frameworks, improved through real-world testing and feedback. This experimental approach is now spreading beyond finance into sectors such as health and emerging technologies, including Artificial Intelligence (AI), reflecting a broader shift toward policy prototyping.
India has embraced this shift in scope and sophistication, particularly in finance, with the Reserve Bank of India's sandbox framework enabling firms to test products with real users under defined conditions alongside the Interoperable Regulatory Sandbox (IoRS), which enables cross-sector testing through a single-window interface. In 2025, the Reserve Bank of India launched a retail sandbox for its central bank digital currency, enabling real-world testing of digital rupee use cases. The Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India's 2025 regulations seek to improve efficiency and ease of doing business. This experimental approach requires three key shifts: from episodic to continuous experimentation, from sectoral silos to cross-domain innovation, and from reactive regulation to co-creation. The Reserve Bank of India's sandbox framework enables firms to test products with real users under defined conditions alongside the Interoperable Regulatory Sandbox (IoRS), which enables cross-sector testing through a single-window interface, reducing fragmentation and accelerating innovation cycles.
India has been positioning itself as a major manufacturing destination under initiatives such as 'Make in India' and production-linked incentive schemes across sectors including electronics, automotive, renewable energy, defence and semiconductors. The government's approach focuses on 'Permitted unless prohibited' principles, with rules and regulations stable and predictable. Union Minister Piyush Goyal announced that Prime Minister Modi has taken up reduction of logistics costs as an urgent national mission to make India globally competitive. The Minister noted that both State Governments and private companies have contributed significantly towards strengthening the logistics ecosystem, with initiatives such as GST, decriminalisation of laws, reduction of compliance burdens and simplification of business processes helping create a more seamless logistics and business environment. India has achieved an all-time high export figure of USD 863 billion in FY 2025-26, with the government setting an aspirational export target of USD 1 trillion for the current year.
