NEW DELHI/BERLIN (own report) – Germany’s power struggles with China, Russia and, to limited extent, the United States form the context of Chancellor Friedrich Merz’s current talks in India. Merz is keen to strengthen German trade with India and promote German investment in the Indian economy. On the one hand, this move is intended to create an alternative to German business with China and to strengthen New Delhi’s standing vis-à-vis Beijing. On the other hand, Berlin is promoting German arms exports, not only to increase sales for Germany’s arms manufacturers but also to reduce the share of Russian military equipment in use by the Indian armed forces. So far, however, the West has failed to break Moscow’s influence in New Delhi – not even on a military level. Both countries continue to conduct joint military exercises, most recently in October 2025 in India (‘Indra-2025’). Merz and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi are now negotiating a deal to supply German submarines worth seven billion euros. Efforts to achieving deeper economic relations are intended to make both countries less dependent on the United States now that Washington is seriously damaging both Germany and India with its tariffs and other repressive measures. Read more

BRUSSELS/NEW DELHI/WASHINGTON/MOSCOW (own report) – A high-level EU delegation pressed ahead with negotiations in New Delhi on the long-planned EU-India free trade agreement this week. Most points of contention appear to have been resolved in the meantime; disputes remained regarding EU tariffs on imports from India resulting from the EU regulations on Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM). India accuses the EU of merely seeking to protect its own industry under the guise of environmental protection while granting US-goods preferential treatment. While the EU is limiting itself to trade issues, the US has consolidated its significantly stronger position in India by further extending its defense agreement with the country. The Indian-US agreement has been extended at a time, when India has made new acquisitions of Russian military equipment and was celebrating the 25th anniversary of its strategic partnership with Moscow. US President Donald Trump is seeking to undermine Indian-Russian relations with sanctions against Russian oil companies from which leading Indian companies have been procuring oil. Read more

BERLIN/NEW DELHI (own report) – Germany is seeking to intensify relations with India and can take advantage of the current policy conflict between India and the United States. Last week, German Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul wrapped up his first visit to India since taking office last week. During talks in New Delhi plans were agreed to double the volume of trade between the two economies and to expand Germany’s recruitment of skilled workers from India. Berlin is also keen to fast-track negotiations on a free trade agreement between the EU and India. Wadephul’s visit took place at a time when relations between India and the US are in crisis due to Washington’s decision to slap high tariffs on imports from India. The Trump administration accuses New Delhi of supporting Moscow’s war in Ukraine by purchasing Russian oil. This is the reason for a doubling of the tariffs already scheduled. Refusing to give in to US pressure, the Modi government is now keen to improve relations with China. And the German government is also keen to fill the gap created by the dispute between India and the US. Germany industry is looking for alternative options as business with the US becomes less profitable. Read more

BERLIN/NEW DELHI (own report) – Rheinmetall and Diehl Defence have signed a contract with India’s Reliance Defence Limited for the production in India of precision-guided munitions, explosives and propellants. The background story is not only India’s wish to diversify military supply chains but also Berlin’s attempt to dissuade India from future arms cooperation with Russia. Germany has been expanding its military cooperation with India. This was recently seen in joint naval and air force manoeuvres. However, when it comes to large-scale procurement in India, German arms companies lag far behind their Western competitors from the US and France. The French are already supplying Rafale fighter jets, while the Americans intend to supply F-35s. The race for a bigger piece of the cake in India’s growing defence market has been hotting up since the recent military conflict between India and Pakistan. India is now seeking to move quickly in acquiring the latest high-tech weapon systems, including fighter jets. Rheinmetall’s partner Reliance Defence Ltd. has been topping the list of Indian companies securing international arms contracts. Accusations abound that the Reliance Group has received preferential treatment from Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Read more

NEW DELHI/BERLIN (own report) – Gail, India’s largest natural gas utility, is demanding up to US $1.8 billion in compensation for contact breach by GMTS, a subsidiary of the German gas supplier SEFE (ex-Gazprom Germania). The arbitration claim is based on GMTS’s failure to deliver agreed liquefied natural gas cargoes to Gail last year. The German company had planned to deliver Russian LNG, but Russia’s response to the EU sanctions regime meant that it has not received Russian gas since late spring 2022. Although SEFE/GMTS managed to procure LNG from alternative sources, it has prioritised deliveries to the German market. Gail estimates the damage caused by supply shortfalls to be in the billions of dollars. The Indian company has now initiated proceedings before the International Court of Arbitration in London. India was not the only country in South Asia to suffer LNG shortages last year as European energy companies snapped up available stocks on the global market and drove up prices. Bangladesh and Pakistan also saw a sharp decline in LNG imports. Indeed, only this month has Pakistan received its first gas shipment from the spot market since mid-2022. Read more

BRUSSELS/WASHINGTON/NEW DELHI (Own report) – Germany is participating in plans to build a transport corridor all the way to India, in cooperation with the EU and USA. According to a decision taken by Washington, Brussels, Berlin and the governments of other countries on the sidelines of the G20 summit in New Delhi, an India-Middle East-Europe Economic Corridor (IMEC) is to link Europe and South Asia. It will be a combination of a rail and shipping corridor and include the construction of submarine cables. The delivery of green hydrogen from Israel to Europe is also planned. The project is designed to compete with China’s New Silk Road, as well as to bind New Delhi tighter to the EU and pit it against Beijing. IMEC is the fourth major infrastructure project launched by the EU and USA to diminish the importance of the New Silk Road. Two are considered failures, one (“Global Gateway”) is advancing only slowly. And yet there is a great need for investment in the infrastructure sector worldwide, leaving room for Chinese and transatlantic projects of any magnitude - side by side and simultaneously. Read more

NEW DELHI/BERLIN (Own report) – On his visit to India, German Economy Minister Robert Habeck is pushing for a swift conclusion of a free trade agreement with the EU. “We have the opportunity now to make progress within the next six months,” Habeck declared in New Delhi yesterday. The agreement has been under negotiations since 2007. They were suspended in 2013 and resumed only last year. According to the Berlin-based German Institute for International and Security Affairs (SWP), both sides are under pressure to conclude the agreement. However, “there is good reason to doubt” whether the two parties’ highly diverging interests can be reconciled. Skeptical assessments are also being made concerning Berlin’s plans to transfer as much German trade as possible from China to India. In view of India’s excessive bureaucracy and serious infrastructure deficiencies, Princeton economist Ashoka Mody warns that “the allegation that India is booming, is completely false.” Prospects are currently emerging in the solar industry. Berlin also wants to boost its arms exports – partly to counter the Indian-Russian arms cooperation. Read more

NEW DELHI/BERLIN (Own report) – With his visit to India, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz continues his efforts to drive a wedge between New Delhi and Moscow. Scholz will hold talks this weekend in the Indian capital and in Bengaluru, in an attempt to bind India more closely to the West. The Indian government still refuses to join sanctions against Russia or to politically isolate Moscow. It is, instead, expanding its trade with Russia and promoting a negotiated settlement to the Ukraine war. In a concerted effort to prevent this, Western states had applied massive pressure on New Delhi last year. Now they are trying a sort of engagement strategy. Scholz plans to also encourage India to strengthen business relations. Berlin seeks to scale back German business relations with China, and instead expand business with other Asian countries. According to a recent survey among German enterprises in Singapore and India, around 70 percent do not want to invest in India because of widely-known unfavorable conditions. Read more

BERLIN/MOSCOW/NEW DELHI (Own report) – Five weeks after the Russian intervention In Ukraine, western powers still fail to globally isolate Russia. During a visit to India yesterday, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s foreign policy adviser Jens Plötner tried to persuade New Delhi to abandon its cooperation with Moscow. Other representatives of western states had already previously traveled to the Indian capital, pursuing the same objective – to no avail. India is increasing its purchase of Russian oil and is continuing to develop a payment system independent of the US dollar and SWIFT. Still only 48 countries are participating in the western sanctions against Russia. Three-quarters of all UN member states are refusing to comply, despite the partially considerable pressure being exerted on them. Saudi foreign policy expert Mansour Almarzoqi declared that he sees “absolutely no difference” between the wars against Iraq (USA, 2003) and against Ukraine (Russia 2022) and accuses the West of “hypocrisy”: “hidden behind the thin façade of human rights and democracy rhetoric” lies the naked “colonial heritage of the West.” Read more

BERLIN/NEW DELHI (Own report) - Despite the murderous escalation of the Covid-19 pandemic in India, the EU continues to refuse a vaccine patent waiver, pushing instead for a free-trade agreement with that country. The EU-India summit on Saturday is expected to decide on reviving respective negotiations with the intention of making India a business alternative to China. The EU's demands traditionally include the agrarian sector's deregulation, which provoked the current mass protests of Indian farmers. German business representatives urge caution against too strong of a focus on business with India: Efforts to expand this business have failed already in the past due to India's excessive red tape and poor infrastructure. Government measures have also repeatedly disregarded the interests of foreign investors, according to the Federation of German Industries (BDI). In view of the meager Western aid for combating the pandemic, demands are becoming louder among India's elite for repudiating the governing Hindu nationalists' pro-US orientation and calling for a return to non-alignment. Read more