Interpreting India

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• Chokepoints, Economic Warfare and India's Strategic Options 10.07.2026 33นาที

  In this episode of Interpreting India, Konark Bhandari, speaks with Edward Fishman, author of Chokepoints: American Power in the Age of Economic Warfare, on economic statecraft, how the U.S. built its playbook for economic warfare over time, and what the lessons are for India as it looks to build its own economic resilience. This episode explores: • What makes something a genuine choke point, and is there a playbook that other countries can actually replicate? • Why were China's rare earth export controls and Iran's leverage over the Strait of Hormuz among the most consequential acts of economic warfare in recent months? • Why does the U.S. tend to ratchet up export controls and sanctions incrementally, and what are the consequences of that approach? • What options does India have in an era of geo-economic fragmentation, and where does it stand in the U.S.-China technology competition?
• India's AI Ambitions and the Road to Viksit Bharat | AI Summit Special 02.07.2026 33นาที

  In this episode of Interpreting India, Nidhi Singh, speaks with Debjani Ghosh, Distinguished Fellow at NITI Aayog and Chief Architect of the NITI Frontier Tech Hub. With nearly three decades across Intel, NASSCOM, and now NITI Aayog, Debjani brings a perspective that is both deeply practical and genuinely optimistic. She co-chaired the working group on AI for Economic Growth and Social Good at the India AI Impact Summit, and in this conversation she reflects on what the summit delivered, what India's AI journey needs to get right, and why the human being has to stay at the center of all of it.
• Did India's AI Summit Get Safety Right? AI Summit Special 19.06.2026 40นาที

  In this episode of Interpreting India, Nidhi Singh, Associate Fellow at Carnegie India, speaks with Professor Balaraman Ravindran, Head of the Department of Data Science and AI at IIT Madras, and Co-Chair of the Safe and Trusted AI Working Group at the India AI Impact Summit. Since the summit, Professor Ravindran has also been appointed to the UN's Independent International Scientific Panel on AI. There is a narrative that has taken hold since the summit, that India moved away from safety and left frontier risks behind. This conversation sets the record straight. This episode explores: What did the Safe and Trusted AI Working Group actually deliver, and what are the Trusted AI Commons? and the AI governance guidance note designed to do? Was the India AI Impact Summit really less focused on safety, or did the conversation simply evolve when it moved to the Global South? How quickly is the frontier risk landscape changing, and are the frameworks we are building keeping pace? What does the growing concentration of the most capable AI models in the hands of two countries mean for a country like India?
• Subsea Cables, Trusted Networks, and India's Strategic Opportunity 04.06.2026 46นาที

  In this episode of Interpreting India, Charukeshi Bhatt speaks with Pooja Bhatt, associate professor, Jindal School of International Affairs, O.P. Jindal University, on a piece of infrastructure that is easy to overlook and very difficult to protect: subsea cables. Stretching over 1.5 million kilometres across ocean floors and carrying nearly 99% of global data traffic, these cables underpin everything from financial systems and cloud infrastructure to the everyday digital services that billions of people rely on. For India, a fast-growing digital economy with expanding data center ambitions, getting this right is not optional. Why subsea cables remain far superior to satellites for global data transfer, and what India's current footprint in the global cable network actually looks like? How do cable consortia work in practice, and what are the tensions that arise when private companies and sovereign governments have very different priorities? How real is the threat from China's rapidly expanding footprint in the global cable network, and what does the debate around trusted networks mean in practice? What has the Quad delivered on cable connectivity and resilience, and what should India's next steps be domestically and regionally?
• AI Literacy and the Future of Work in India 26.05.2026 44นาที

  In this episode of Interpreting India, Adarsh Ranjan, research analyst at Carnegie India, speaks with Jaspreet Bindra, founder of AI&Beyond and Tech Whisperer Limited, UK, and author of 'Winning with AI: Your Guide to AI Literacy.' Jaspreet brings a practitioner's perspective to questions that often get lost in the noise around AI: not just what is changing, but whether people, organizations, and policymakers are actually prepared for it. This episode explores: Is India's enthusiasm for AI actually translating into adoption on the ground, and which sectors are seeing real change? Is AI destroying jobs or transforming them, and what does that mean for a country whose economy was built on knowledge work and software services? What is AI literacy, why is it different from training, and why does Jaspreet think it is the most underappreciated variable in the AI policy debate? On deepfakes and copyright, are India's existing frameworks anywhere close to adequate?
• Can AI Resources Be Democratized? AI Summit Special 15.05.2026 28นาที

  In this episode of Interpreting India, Nidhi Singh, associate fellow at Carnegie India, speaks with Saurabh Garg, secretary at the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation, Government of India, who chaired the working group on democratizing AI resources at the India AI Impact Summit. The working group brought together over 30 countries and several international organizations to tackle a fundamental question: how do you make the foundational resources for AI, compute, data, models, and talent, accessible to countries that currently have very little of it? This episode explores: How did the working group build consensus across such a diverse set of countries and such different levels of AI maturity? How did India's own experience with digital public infrastructure inform the thinking behind these global initiatives? What are the next steps, and what role does India see itself playing going forward?
• Space Security in the Age of AI 07.05.2026 1ชม. 7นาที

  In this episode of Interpreting India, Tejas Bharadwaj is joined by Almudena Azcárate Ortega, senior program analyst at Secure World Foundation, for a wide-ranging conversation on how emerging technologies, particularly AI, are reshaping the landscape of space security. A space lawyer and policy scholar with deep experience in multilateral processes, Almudena brings both technical nuance and diplomatic realism to questions that most space conversations still treat as hypothetical. This episode explores: What is space security, and how is it different from space safety and why does that distinction matter more than ever in the age of AI? How is AI being used in space domain awareness, debris management, and Earth observation, and what are the limits of relying on AI for high-stakes decisions in space? What happens to accountability and liability when an AI system integrated into a satellite causes damage — either through malfunction or deliberate manipulation? Do we need new treaties to govern AI in space, or is the existing framework, built around the Outer Space Treaty, still fit for purpose?
• An African Perspective for Building AI for Global South | AI Summit Special 30.04.2026 48นาที

  In this episode of Interpreting India, Nidhi Singh is joined by Raymond Ononiwu, founder and CEO of Horus Labs, for a conversation that cuts through the noise around compute, data centres, and AI infrastructure to ask a more fundamental question: who is this all actually being built for? Raymond brings the perspective of someone building AI infrastructure on the ground in Africa, and his account of what the global AI conversation is still getting wrong is both practical and pointed. This episode explores: What is compute, why has it become a strategic resource, and does every country actually need to be training frontier models? What does AI infrastructure really require on the ground, and why is building it in the Global South a fundamentally different challenge from building it in Shenzhen? If you are a country in sub-Saharan Africa trying to build an AI strategy, what should you invest in and what should you ignore entirely? Are the global conversations happening around AI, including at the India AI Impact Summit, actually reflecting what builders on the ground need?
• The India-EU Trade Deal: What It Delivers and What It Doesn't 23.04.2026 51นาที

  In this episode of Interpreting India, Vrinda Sahai is joined by Nicolas Köhler-Suzuki, Advisor for Trade and Economic Security at the Jacques Delors Institute, for a detailed conversation on the India-EU Free Trade Agreement. After decades of slow-moving negotiations, both sides have arrived at what is shaping up to be the most ambitious trade deal India has ever signed. Nicolas unpacks what is in the agreement, what is missing, and what its success will depend on in the years ahead. What finally brought India and the EU to the table after years of negotiations going nowhere, and why the timing matters as much as the deal itself? How does this agreement compare to India's previous trade deals and to the EU's agreements with other partners, and where are the clearest gaps? How significant are the non-tariff barriers including the EU's regulatory standards? What do the mobility provisions mean for Indian IT professionals, and how realistic are the promises given the political climate across EU member states?
• From Bletchley Park to Delhi and What Comes Next | AI Summit Special 16.04.2026 54นาที

  In this episode of Interpreting India, Nidhi Singh is joined by Mariano-Florentino (Tino) Cuéllar, President of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace and one of the very few people to have attended all four global AI summits, from Bletchley Park to Delhi. The conversation traces the arc of AI summit diplomacy, what has been accomplished, where the gaps remain, and what the process reveals about how different parts of the world are thinking about a technology that is moving faster than any single government or institution can keep up with. How has the conversation at AI summits shifted from existential risk and frontier safety to economic opportunity and beneficial deployment, and is that a sign of progress or a loss of focus? What did India bring to the AI governance conversation that the UK, South Korea, and France could not, and how does the scale of this summit change the trajectory of the summits? With the UK and the United States stepping back from multilateral consensus, can the summit series still deliver meaningful outcomes? What should Geneva, the next summit host, actually try to accomplish?
• Data, AI, and the Laws Trying to Keep Up 31.03.2026 42นาที

  In this episode of Interpreting India, Nidhi Singh is joined by Nikhil Narendran, Partner at Trilegal, for a conversation on two of the most pressing issues shaping India's digital future: data protection and AI governance. From the nuts and bolts of India's Digital Personal Data Protection Act to deeper questions about regulating artificial intelligence, Nikhil brings the perspective of a technology lawyer who is not just advising on these issues but actively living them. Is the DPDP Act really as consent-heavy as it's made out to be, and does India's regulatory design have the teeth to handle a Cambridge Analytica-scale misuse of personal data? Does India need a standalone AI law, or can existing frameworks handle the harms AI poses? How is AI reshaping the practice of law from within, and what does it mean that lawyers at Trilegal are now "vibe coding"? What is artificial intimacy, why is it a regulatory blind spot, and why should we start paying attention now?
• Inside the Iran Conflict: Power, Strategy, and India’s Balancing Act 25.03.2026 1ชม. 8นาที

  In this episode of Interpreting India, Srinath Raghavan speaks with Gaddam Dharmendra, Nonresident Senior Fellow, Carnegie India and India’s former Ambassador to Iran about the ongoing U.S.-Israel conflict with Iran and what it means for the region. The conversation looks at Iran’s response to sustained attacks, the wider impact on energy markets and regional stability, and the changing relationships between Iran, the Gulf countries, and global powers. It also reflects on India’s position as it balances its ties across West Asia while navigating strategic and economic pressures, and what lies ahead as the conflict continues to shape the region. How is Iran seeing and handling the current conflict? Why has the Iranian system held together despite sustained attacks? How are regional relationships in West Asia shifting because of this conflict? What does all of this mean for India’s interests and decisions in the region?
• Recalibrating BRICS: India’s Moment in a Fragmented World 26.02.2026 53นาที

  In this episode of Interpreting India, Vrinda Sahai is joined by Ana Garcia, Associate Professor at PUC-Rio and Coordinator at the BRICS Policy Center, to discuss the evolving direction of BRICS as India assumes the 2026 presidency. The conversation reflects on Brazil’s 2025 chairship, the bloc’s continued focus on reforming global financial governance, and the cautious progress on issues such as local currency trade, financial coordination, and institutional reform. Ana Garcia also highlights the limits of BRICS as a unified geopolitical actor and outlines key priorities for India, including strengthening financial mechanisms, advancing climate and health cooperation, and consolidating the expanded BRICS membership. Can India advance BRICS’ financial and monetary coordination while managing geopolitical pressures and US tariff tensions? How should BRICS balance its ambitions as a voice for the Global South with its internal divisions and constraints? What priorities should shape India’s presidency as the bloc consolidates its expanded membership?
• Deciphering the “Mother of All Trade Deals”: The India–EU FTA 03.02.2026 36นาที

  In this episode of Interpreting India, Dinakar Peri is joined by Mohan Kumar, former Indian Ambassador to France and a veteran trade negotiator, to unpack the newly concluded India–EU Free Trade Agreement and why he describes it as the “mother of all trade deals” for India. Kumar explains why the agreement is strategically significant, why the timing matters, and what it signals about India’s trade posture, competitiveness, and broader alignment between trade, technology, and security. Why is the India–EU FTA seen as India’s most consequential trade deal to date? Why did it take so long to conclude, and what explains the timing now? How do EU regulations shape market access, and what does “meeting standards” really require for Indian exporters? What is included in the deal, what is left out, and why were those exclusions important to getting it across the line?
• AI Adoption Journey for Population Scale: The UCAF Framework 30.01.2026 46นาที

  In this episode of Interpreting India, Nidhi Singh is joined by Shalini Kapoor, chief strategist for Data and AI at the EkStep Foundation, and Tanvi Lall, director for strategy at People+ai. They unpack why so many AI initiatives get stuck after impressive demos, and what it takes to move from pilots to real, sustained adoption. Drawing on research spanning 1,000+ use cases across 25 countries, the guests introduce the Use Case Adoption Framework (UCAF) and explain how India can translate AI ambition into population-scale impact—especially across public services, agriculture, health, and other high-priority sectors. Why do AI pilots stall in “pilot purgatory,” even when the technology works? What does a concrete AI use case look like beyond a chatbot demo? And what institutional changes—trust, accountability, workflow redesign, safeguards, and data readiness—are required for adoption at scale?
• Scarcity, Sovereignty, Strategy: Mapping the Political Geography of AI Compute 21.11.2025 45นาที

  In this episode of Interpreting India, Adarsh Ranjan is joined by Zoe Jay Hawkins, co-founder and deputy executive director of the Tech Policy Design Institute. They explore the evolving idea of AI sovereignty, the geopolitics of compute, and how countries are navigating access to the foundational infrastructure that powers artificial intelligence. Drawing from her research at the Oxford Internet Institute, Zoe unpacks the political geography of AI compute, the rising concentration of AI chips and data centers, and what this means for both developed and developing economies. What does “AI sovereignty” really mean, and how can countries conceptualize it across different levels? Why is access to compute becoming a critical geopolitical issue, and how concentrated is the global compute landscape today? How should countries, especially in the Global South, approach compute scarcity, supply chain risks, and long-term AI strategy?
• Cybersecurity in Outer Space: A Growing Concern 31.10.2025 36นาที

  In this episode of Interpreting India, host Tejas Bharadwaj is joined by P. J. Blount, an assistant professor of space law at Durham University. Together, they delve into the critical topic of cybersecurity in outer space, exploring the challenges and implications of protecting space-based assets amidst rising geopolitical tensions and technological advancements. Blount shares insights from his extensive research in international space law and cyberspace governance, highlighting the complexities of legal attribution and the evolving landscape of space security.
• Unbundling AI Openness: Beyond the Binary 16.10.2025 48นาที

  In this episode of Interpreting India, host Shruti Mittal, research analyst in the Technology and Society Program at Carnegie India, speaks with Chinmayi Sharma, associate professor of law at Fordham Law School and nonresident fellow at the Stoss Center, the Center for Democracy and Technology, and the Atlantic Council. Together, they explore the evolving and often misunderstood debate on openness in artificial intelligence. Drawing from her forthcoming paper, Unbundling AI Openness, in the Wisconsin Law Review, Sharma explains why the traditional “open versus closed” framing oversimplifies the reality of modern AI development. She introduces the concept of “differential openness,” a framework that views AI systems as composed of multiple interdependent components—each existing along its own spectrum of openness and carrying distinct implications for innovation, safety, democratic accountability, and national security.
• India’s Air Defense After Operation Sindoor: Lessons and the Road Ahead 18.09.2025 50นาที

  In this episode of Interpreting India, host Dinakar Peri is joined by Air Marshal (Retd.) Diptendu Choudhury, former Commandant of the National Defence College. Together, they unpack the evolution of India’s multilayered air defense network, tracing their journey from limited radar coverage in the 1960s to today’s multilayered, integrated network capable of projecting power into adversarial airspace. The discussion highlights how offensive and defensive air power work in tandem, lessons from Operation Sindoor, the growing challenges posed by drones, missiles, and cost-effectiveness, and the future direction of India’s strategy in the face of China–Pakistan cooperation.
• Military AI and Autonomous Weapons: Gender, Ethics, and Governance 28.08.2025 55นาที

  In this episode of Interpreting India, host Charukeshi Bhatt is joined by Shimona Mohan, associate researcher at the United Nations Institute for Disarmament Research (UNIDIR). Together, they unpack the rapidly evolving landscape of artificial intelligence in the military domain, with a special focus on lethal autonomous weapons systems (LAWS). The discussion traces how AI’s dual-use nature complicates governance, highlights the risks of bias and miscalculation, and explores why progress in international negotiations has been slow despite nearly a decade of debate.