NARENDRA MODI is a masterful salesman. On his frequent foreign tours the Indian prime minister touts his brand not only in words but physically. The beatific smile, the warm hugs and the trademark folkloric dress project the reassuring humility of a big but benign country. Yet behind the soft-focus India that Mr Modi personifies, the contours of a harder-edged regional power are emerging under his leadership.

For many Indians, it is about time. Traditional Indian diplomacy has been “non-aligned”. In practice this has often meant disengagement from the wider world and skittish caution closer to home. Such has been the case in India’s dealings with China: its generous economic and military aid to Pakistan, India’s eternal rival, and its energetic efforts to prise smaller neighbours such as Nepal and Sri Lanka from India’s orbit have until recently resulted in little more than head-scratching in the Indian capital, Delhi. C. Raja Mohan of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, a think-tank, says there has been a shift in Indian diplomatic thinking: “Now the word is: ‘We will push back.’”

Mr Modi has signalled this on his recent travels. Last month saw him in Iran where, between cuddly photo-sessions with similarly grizzled Iranian leaders, India pledged to develop port and rail links between Iran and Afghanistan. It is no coincidence that this route, which will ease traffic between Central Asia and the Arabian Sea, runs parallel to China’s own $46 billion scheme to build energy and transport infrastructure through the length of Pakistan, linking China to the sea.

On June 4th Mr Modi stopped in Afghanistan to inaugurate a hydroelectric station. One of numerous Indian aid projects, it is intended not only to shore up Afghanistan’s Western-backed government, but also to show off India’s generous, responsible behaviour, in contrast with that of another neighbour, Pakistan, whose intelligence services have long been accused of covertly sponsoring the Taliban.

From Afghanistan he went to Switzerland, America and Mexico. His aim in these countries was to put the seal on what has been a long and complicated Indian diplomatic effort. India has been trying for decades to gain international recognition as a nuclear state. It will soon gain entry to the 34-nation Missile Technology Control Regime (MTCR), whose aim is to keep irresponsible countries from acquiring missiles with which to deliver weapons of mass destruction.

But despite its good record in preventing nuclear proliferation (unlike Pakistan), and in the acceptance of international safeguards on civilian nuclear power, India remains shut out of the 48-nation Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG). Non-membership is humiliating to a country of India’s size. It is also costly, denying India access both to useful civilian technology and to markets in which to sell its own.

Hoping to woo India a decade ago, America broke ranks and signed a bilateral accord on civilian nuclear power. The superpower also wielded its clout in 2008 to coax the NSG, and particularly a recalcitrant China, to grant limited exemptions for nuclear-technology trade with India. Now, under Mr Modi, India is stepping up its efforts to gain full admission to the nuclear elite. It sees the two meetings of the NSG that are due to be held later this month as an opportunity for progress.

Switzerland and Mexico are among the smaller powers that had looked askance at India’s efforts. But now they, along with traditionally nuclear-averse countries such as Japan, back Indian membership of the NSG. Italy dropped objections to Indian entry into the MTCR after India sent home an Italian marine facing murder charges for killing two Indian fishermen he mistook for pirates.

China worries about signs that Western countries are cosying up to its giant neighbour. It fears that Mr Modi will exploit better ties with America as a source of advantage. For years the Pentagon has pursued India as part of an effort to counterbalance growing Chinese strength, but only in recent months have Indian military officials begun to show eagerness for co-operation. This month the two countries will hold their annual naval exercises not in Indian waters, but in the Sea of Japan, with the Japanese navy, near islands claimed by both Japan and China. In a wide-ranging speech before a joint session of Congress on June 8th, Mr Modi said that America was India’s “indispensable partner”. An outright military alliance between India and America remains unlikely, but even the remote prospect of one will concentrate Chinese minds.