Indian Army Chief General Upendra Dwivedi on Tuesday called for a significant expansion of India’s “Smart Power” framework, urging a more integrated use of military, diplomatic, economic, and technological instruments to navigate an increasingly volatile global environment. He was addressing a National Seminar on “Security to Prosperity: Smart Power for Sustained National Growth,” where strategic responses to emerging global disruptions were discussed.

General Dwivedi highlighted recent geopolitical and economic flashpoints, including the turmoil in the Strait of Hormuz, to illustrate how traditional assumptions about global stability are being challenged. He also pointed to semiconductors and their selective availability as examples of how trade and technology have become instruments of strategic leverage in contemporary geopolitics, reshaping the balance between cooperation and coercion among nations.

Explaining the evolving concept of “Smart Power,” the Army Chief said it involves the strategic ability to determine which instruments of national power should be deployed, at what intensity, and toward which objectives. He noted that India’s approach must combine national strength with strategic wisdom to secure peace, accelerate economic growth, and positively influence the global environment. He also emphasized the need to supplement the traditional DIME framework—Diplomatic, Informational, Military, and Economic elements—with additional dimensions such as technology and a “whole of nation” approach.

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Dwivedi observed that the global order is witnessing a return of hard power as a dominant force, challenging earlier expectations that interdependence driven by trade, supply chains, and digital connectivity would reduce conflict. He said these same forces have, paradoxically, also become tools of pressure and coercion, requiring countries to reassess how they engage with an increasingly fragmented and competitive world.

Concluding his remarks, the Army Chief stressed that contemporary security challenges now place sustained demands not only on armed forces but also on industrial capacity, research ecosystems, and governance structures. He underlined that security can no longer be seen as something separate from prosperity, but rather as its essential foundation, stating that “security is the precondition for prosperity to commence its progressive journey.”

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