ABSTRACT
This chapter offers comprehensive explanation of the weakness of India's soft power and characterises major liabilities. It focuses on several major challenges for India's attractiveness: the deficiencies of hard power, flaws of democracy and inefficient bureaucracy, underdeveloped software of diplomacy, and the need for a coherent foreign strategy. The chapter offers some suggestions as to how can India's government address these shortcomings and make a better use of soft power strengths. The landmark electoral victory of the Bharatiya Janata Party, in 2014, opened a new era for India's soft power. Contrary to some concerns that the new government under Prime Minister Narendra Modi will revert to a hard power approach, he has, rather, become a main promoter of India's power of attraction. One fundamental element of soft power is the legitimacy of foreign policy. Soft power should be recognized as a legitimate, real and important element in the country's external relations, long dominated by hard security considerations.
