When US economist Richard Wolff last month reached for an analogy to describe Washington’s waning influence over India, it was striking for its bluntness. “The United States telling India what to do is like a mouse hitting his fist to an elephant,” Wolff said recently. “It’s funny, not scary.” Wolff’s remark wasn’t a throwaway line. It captured a deeper reality: the global economy is undergoing one of the most significant shifts since the end of World War II. The G7, long the symbol of Western dominance in economic and political affairs, is losing ground to the expanding BRICS bloc, which now not only rivals but has overtaken it in key measures of output and growth.