India, June 16 -- There is a telling detail in the optics of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's recent visit to Sweden. He landed not in Stockholm - the capital - but in Gothenburg, Sweden's industrial and port city, home to Volvo, Ericsson and the country's manufacturing core. This was not a diplomatic courtesy call, but a deliberate choice. It was a business proposition set in a moment when the global order is fractured enough to make such propositions genuinely consequential.

Modi arrived in Gothenburg on May 17 as part of a five-nation tour - the Netherlands, Sweden, Norway and Italy in Europe, apart from the UAE. This was his first visit to Europe since the landmark India-EU Free Trade Agreement (FTA) came into force in January 2026. Th...