Capital, Credit and Commerce: Global Development Finance and India’s Role in the New Economic Order

India’s trade expansion depends not only on productive capacity and market access but also on the ability of firms and public institutions to mobilise debt at appropriate maturities, currencies and risk allocations. This critical narrative review examines how export credit, trade finance, export credit insurance, infrastructure debt and sovereign macro-financial conditions interact to shape India’s international trade performance. Literature published from January 1991 to 2 June 2026 was identified through scholarly metadata services, citation searching and authoritative institutional sources. Evidence was appraised for causal credibility, measurement quality, external validity and relevance to India. The strongest firm-level and cross-country evidence indicates that credit constraints reduce export entry, product scope and destination reach because international transactions require substantial working capital and expose sellers and financiers to information, settlement and country risks. Bank credit shocks can therefore transmit rapidly to trade, although estimated effects vary with firm productivity, collateral, supply-chain position and the availability of non-bank finance. India’s institutional architecture partially addresses these frictions through regulated pre- and post-shipment credit, the Export-Import Bank of India, export credit insurance, guarantees, receivables platforms and infrastructure lending. Yet access remains uneven, especially for micro, small and medium enterprises, and public risk-sharing can create contingent fiscal liabilities or weaken credit discipline when additionality is not demonstrable. Evidence on transport corridors is comparatively strong: better roads and railways can increase market integration, firm performance and trade potential, but debt-financed infrastructure yields durable gains only when project selection, procurement, demand forecasting and balance-sheet risk are sound. Macroeconomic outcomes are similarly conditional. Debt can relax binding supply constraints and support export diversification, while excessive public borrowing, foreign-currency exposure and short-term refinancing needs can raise interest costs, crowd out private credit and amplify external shocks. The review concludes that debt-led trade expansion is most credible when finance is additional, competitively allocated, matched to trade cash flows and embedded in transparent macroprudential and fiscal governance.