New Delhi: India must prepare for a world where friends can turn into foes and geopolitical shifts can upend economic calculations, Union Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw said, making a case for reducing strategic vulnerabilities as global alliances become increasingly unpredictable.

Speaking at the Bloomberg New Economy Forum in New Delhi, Vaishnaw said India could not afford to depend blindly on other countries for critical technologies, manufacturing inputs and economic stability. The focus, he said, must be on identifying vulnerabilities before external policy changes disrupt domestic production and growth.

There are times when friends become foes, so it is very important to identify the factors that could make your production and economy vulnerable to someone else's policies, he said. Things change, politics change, and geopolitics plays a big role. So, we have to constantly calibrate our approach, Vaishnaw added. His remarks come at a time when wars, protectionist trade policies and uncertainty over traditional partnerships are forcing governments to reassess their economic dependencies.

Vaishnaw said India was taking a long-term approach to building economic resilience, planning decades ahead rather than reacting to each geopolitical disruption as it unfolds. The government's planning framework divides its priorities into three horizons: short-term goals spanning three to five years, medium-term objectives covering five to 15 years, and long-term ambitions extending 20 to 25 years.

We think along those lines, identify those vulnerabilities, and start working on them, he said, adding that India’s approach to identifying vulnerabilities and addressing them is very methodical.

Vaishnaw did not name any country, but his comments reflect India’s strategic restraint in the face of long-pending trade negotiations and evolving foreign policy friction. Against this backdrop, Vaishnaw's remarks indicate that India’s resilience will depend not only on who its partners are today, but also on how prepared the country is if their priorities change tomorrow.