KOCHI: For Kerala’s outward-facing economy, geopolitics can no longer be treated as a distant foreign-policy concern, former foreign secretary Nirupama Rao said on Friday during a session of the Kerala Management Association (KMA) Annual Management Convention held in Kochi.
“It [geopolitics] shapes supply chains, technology access, capital flows, energy security, talent mobility and even corporate values,” Nirupama said at the event held at Grand Hyatt in Bolgatty. She said decisions taken in Washington or Beijing now “ripple through boardrooms in Kerala and beyond with remarkable speed”.
What has changed is the nature of disruption itself, she stressed. The assumptions of a stable, rules-based global order are fraying, she said, adding, “Stability, rules and predictability – the foundations on which global business relies – are being tested as never before.”
For companies, this erosion of norms shows up in practical ways. “Businesses feel this as compliance complexity, technology restrictions, sanctions exposure, and uncertainty around standards,” Nirupama said. The open trading system that powered Asia’s rise, she warned, “is yielding to a fragmented order.”
The weakening of international rules also raises risk. The presumption that sovereignty and non-intervention are non-optional is weakening, creating an environment where powerful states act unilaterally. “In such conditions, sanctions regimes and data rules can move faster than contracts,” she said.
Nirupama argued that this shift requires a change in how management thinks about efficiency and risk. Diversified supply chains and compliance capacity, once seen as costs, are now safeguards.
“Business leadership also becomes geopolitical leadership. Companies that build trusted supply chains, diversify dependencies, and invest in compliance capacity are not just protecting shareholder value. They are also contributing to national resilience,” she said.