Issues of international economic relations in India’s foreign policy in the 70s and early 80s of the XX century

The article examines aspects related to the solution of international economic relations in the foreign policy of independent India. In 1947 India is entering the international arena, as after the end of World War II and the powerful rise of the liberation movement, the British government was forced to abandon the preservation of India’s colonial dependence. However, Britain hoped to maintain some part of the economic and political positions in India, setting the task of weakening the future Indian state in every possible way, both politically and economically, and distracting the masses from the revolutionary struggle for national freedom and independence. In the summer of 1947, amid mass protests against foreign rule, an agreement was reached to eliminate the colonial regime in India. However, during the period under review, achieving economic independence required reducing the gap in levels of development between India and the main capitalist countries, which led to increasing the role of foreign economic relations. The predominant focus on capitalist markets and sources of credit, where there was fierce competition, high protective tariffs, and a monopoly on advanced technology and equipment, led to a decrease in India’s share in world trade. This prompted her, firstly, to seek deeper cooperation with socialist countries, which was most clearly manifested in Soviet-Indian relations, and secondly, to make persistent efforts to change the structure of bilateral economic relations with industrialized capitalist countries and, as a result, strive to restructure international economic relations on a fair basis.