A multi-stakeholder roundtable convened policymakers, diplomats, port authorities, financial institutions, industry leaders, and experts to explore how supply chains can be made more resilient, sustainable, and inclusive amid acute global disruption. The main themes that emerged from the discussion are as follows:
Supply chains optimised for efficiency were widely seen as fragile. The pandemic, geopolitical conflicts, and successive trade disruptions have highlighted the costs of overconcentration. Participants emphasised that the challenge is not to retreat from globalisation but to correct overdependence by distinguishing between acceptable dependencies and strategically untenable ones. Resilience carries costs that must be deliberately accounted for, shifting the prevailing logic from ‘just-in-time’ to ‘just-in-case.’
Energy, critical minerals, semiconductors, and maritime infrastructure were identified as concentrated vulnerabilities. Midstream mineral processing and shipping hardware remain heavily dependent on China. Cyber risk in the maritime sector was noted as a growing but insufficiently addressed concern. Participants called for a greater focus on implementation, rigorous supply chain mapping, strategic reserves, and diversification, with early bilateral wins prioritised over waiting for multilateral consensus. The importance of scale was emphasised: India's demographic and economic heft make it a natural anchor. Accelerating corridors, such as the India-Middle East-Europe Economic Corridor and the Eastern Maritime Corridor, were identified as urgent priorities. Participants also highlighted the need to learn from Southeast Asian manufacturing and logistics ecosystems in building agile, competitive, and integrated regional supply chain networks.
Resilience is limited if smaller enterprises cannot access affordable finance. Supply chain financing gaps, high cost of capital for MSMEs, and limited global banking presence constrain India's ability to attract investment and support businesses abroad. Agile credit policies, green financing instruments, and enabling conditions for greater rupee internationalisation were recommended as priorities.
Participants debated the merits of plurilateral and supply-chain-specific coalitions versus broader multilateral frameworks. The guiding principles proposed included predictability, reciprocity, transparency, fairness, and strategic trust. Several participants noted that sustainability mandates, when imposed without implementation support, fall hardest on Global South producers — requiring scaled technical assistance, not just regulatory frameworks. On energy, the consensus was that developing nations are experiencing energy addition rather than transition, requiring a balance between renewables, coal, and energy security.
The roundtable surfaced a broad consensus that resilience must replace efficiency as the organising principle of global supply chains, with costs and benefits shared equitably. Scale, implementation capacity, and Global South ownership were recurring refrains — without which, the ambition outpaces execution. This shift needs to be designed, financed, and governed with a focus on the most exposed links of global supply chains.
Authors: Anusha Kesarkar Gavankar and Priya Noronha.
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