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CNN International explores India’s place on the modern ‘Silk Road’
MUMBAI: This month, ’Silk Road: Past, Present, Future’ continues an 8,000 kilometre journey across the ancient silk and spice routes, traveling south from Central Asia, across remote snow-topped mountains, to explore one of Asia’s most important corridors of commerce: India.
Following the series’ first two episodes in China and Kazakhstan, this month’s show sees presenter Sumnima Udas explore India’s historic role in the world’s most important trade route and uncover the country’s place in the modern Silk Road.
India is one of the oldest civilizations on the planet; the birthplace of Hinduism, Buddhism, ancient medicines and even spicy curry. CNN’s Sumnima Udas explores one of the largest wholesale spice markets in Asia, in India’s national capital, New Delhi. From coriander to pepper to turmeric, spices are a centuries-old staple of Indian heritage. Decades ago, Indian cooks used to spend hours preparing their spices, manually grinding everything to make their own blends. Today, the process is much easier. CNN meets India’s self-proclaimed ‘King of Spices’, the 93-years-old, Dharampal Gulati, and learn how his Delhi spice company, MDH, started in the year of India’s independence, 1947, is making cooking easier for thousands of consumers.
The program also travels south to India’s growing tech-hub, Bengaluru to discover how Indian technology firm Wipro is partnering with the American company GE to design and manufacture low-cost baby warmers for new-borns to help reduce the neonatal mortality rate. The concept, often called ‘reverse innovation’, is to create and sell new technology for the Indian market at a fraction of the cost that they are normal sold around the world. Sumnima also examines how Ayurveda, an ancient system of healing based on balance and nature is enjoying a resurgence.
India is the world’s second largest producer of tea in the world and drinking the beverage is a national pastime. Udas treks through the hills and tea plantations of Darjeeling in North East India. This lush, mountainous region, near the borders of China, Bhutan, and Nepal, is world-famous for Darjeeling teas. The program meets Kaushal Dugar, a young Indian entrepreneur who is hoping his three-year-old e-commerce start-up, Teabox, will change the way tea is bought and sold around the globe by shipping tea straight from the field to the consumers, just days after it is plucked in the tea gardens.
Following the India episode, The Silk Road: Past, Present, Future will visit the Arabian Peninsula as it makes its way across the old routes over nine episodes before completing its journey in Northern Italy.
News Broadcasting
Rising Bharat Summit 2026 spotlights India’s global ascent
PM Modi keynotes two-day event with ministers, diplomats and icons in New Delhi.
MUMBAI: India didn’t just host a summit, it threw a coming-out party for a nation ready to own the global stage. The News18 Rising Bharat Summit 2026, held on 27–28 February in New Delhi, emerged as a high-octane platform for ideas, vision and strategic dialogue, uniting national leadership, global policymakers, industry titans, defence strategists and cultural icons under the theme “Strength Within”.
Prime minister Narendra Modi set the tone with a keynote that framed India’s resurgence as a reclaiming of lost potential built over generations. “In previous industrial revolutions, India and the Global South were merely followers,” he said. “But in the era of Artificial Intelligence, India is a partner in decisions and shaping them.” He highlighted the country’s thriving AI startup ecosystem and the recent AI Impact Summit attended by over 100 nations.
Union minister Piyush Goyal (Commerce & Industry) stressed India’s readiness to scale exports and deepen manufacturing, while Ashwini Vaishnaw (Railways, I&B, Electronics & IT) positioned technology and infrastructure as twin engines of growth, especially in AI and digital trust. Jyotiraditya Scindia (Communications & North East Development) revealed India’s ambition to lead in 6G through the Bharat 6G Alliance and partnerships with over 30 countries.
Global voices added depth: former Singapore Foreign Minister George Yeo called India’s development “self-sustaining” and strategically vital; ex-UK Chief of Defence Staff General Sir Nick Carter asserted India deserves a seat at the great powers’ table; and former US Commerce Secretary Carlos M. Gutierrez joined ambassadors from Norway, Germany and Sweden in discussions on geopolitical realignment, sustainability and defence preparedness.
Other speakers included veteran investor Ramesh Damani, World Gold Council CEO David Tait, Vianai Systems founder Dr Vishal Sikka, DeepTech Bharat Foundation co-founder Shashi Shekhar Vempati, defence experts Rajesh Kumar Singh, Sunil Ambekar, Patrick McGee, Tom Cooper and Adrian Fontanellaz, plus cultural and sporting icons Kangana Ranaut, Saina Nehwal, PR Sreejesh, Mohammed Shami, Yuzvendra Chahal, Mithali Raj, Anil Kapoor and Yami Gautam.
The summit was supported by Jio Financial Services (Presenting Partner), Phonepe and DS Group (Co-Presenting Partners), Pernod Ricard India and Kia Seltos (Powered By & Driven By), state governments of Uttar Pradesh, Chhattisgarh and Uttarakhand (State Partners), and associate partners including NSE, M3M Foundation and Reliance Industries.
Broadcast live across News18 Network, CNBC-TV18 and CNBC Awaaz, the event reinforced India’s image as a confident democracy and emerging global power proving that when strength comes from within, the world can’t help but watch.
