🏛 World organisations
How the world organised itself after 1945 — the United Nations and India’s part in it from the very first day, UN peacekeeping, the IMF and World Bank, the voice of the developing world, and the regional groups from the European Union and SAARC to BRICS, the SCO and the G20.
Maps show India’s boundaries as officially depicted by the Government of India. Pins mark approximate locations.
🇺🇳 The United Nations and India
Founded in 1945 — with India among the founders, and Indians shaping it from the start.
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1 January 1942
The Declaration by United Nations
India was among the select countries that signed the Declaration by United Nations in Washington on 1 January 1942.
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25 April – 26 June 1945
The San Francisco Conference
India took part in the conference at San Francisco that created the UN; its delegate, A. Ramaswami Mudaliar, later became the first President of the UN Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) in 1946.
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24 October 1945
The United Nations is founded
The UN was founded on 24 October 1945 with 51 original members — India one of them.
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1946
India raises apartheid at the UN
India was the first country to raise apartheid and racial discrimination in South Africa at the UN, in 1946.
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1947–48
Hansa Mehta and ‘all human beings’
On the UN Human Rights Commission, Hansa Mehta ensured that the first Article of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights speaks of all human beings, not all men, being free and equal.
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1953
Vijaya Lakshmi Pandit
The first woman to be elected President of the UN General Assembly.
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1950–2022
Eight terms on the Security Council
India has been elected to the Security Council eight times: 1950–51, 1967–68, 1972–73, 1977–78, 1984–85, 1991–92, 2011–12 and 2021–22.
🕊 Keeping the peace
Blue helmets from India have served across the world since the early years.
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1948
UN peacekeeping begins
UN peacekeeping began in 1948 with the Truce Supervision Organization in the Middle East, set up to monitor ceasefires.
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India’s peacekeepers
Nearly 180 Indian peacekeepers have given their lives in UN service; the Indian Army’s Centre for UN Peacekeeping in New Delhi trains over 12,000 troops a year.
💱 Money, trade and the developing world
The institutions built after the war, and how newly free nations made their voice heard.
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July 1944
Bretton Woods: the IMF and World Bank
A conference at Bretton Woods in the USA in July 1944 planned the post-war economy; the IMF and the World Bank began financial operations in 1947.
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1955
Bandung and non-alignment
The Afro-Asian Conference at Bandung strengthened the Non-Aligned Movement, of which India is a founding member.
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The Group of 77
Developing countries organised themselves as the Group of 77 to demand a new international economic order; India is a founding member.
🌐 Regional and other groups
Groups of neighbours, of emerging economies and of the world’s largest economies.
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1948
The Marshall Plan and the OEEC
Under the Marshall Plan the Organisation for European Economic Cooperation was set up in 1948 — an early step towards European unity.
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1992
The European Union
The Treaty of Maastricht, signed on 7 February 1992, established the European Union.
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8 December 1985
SAARC
The South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation was established at Dhaka with the adoption of its Charter; it has eight members: Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka.
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2001; India 2017
The Shanghai Cooperation Organisation
Founded on 15 June 2001; India joined as a full member at the Astana summit in June 2017.
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2006; 2026
BRICS
Formed in 2006 by Brazil, Russia, India and China; South Africa joined in 2011. In 2026 it has 11 members, and India holds its fourth Chairship.
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2023
The G20 under India’s Presidency
At the New Delhi summit, India’s initiative led to the African Union being accepted as a permanent member of the G20.
How we check: every entry is from an NCERT textbook, the Ministry of External Affairs, India’s Permanent Mission to the UN or PIB; our build fails unless its key phrases are found in the source itself. Membership numbers carry the date of their source. For the World Wars, the Cold War and decolonisation, see those pages.