When David Beckham had his wife's name tattooed in Hindi on his forearm six years ago, it gave a small boost of encouragement to India's cultural commissars. The tattooist might have managed to misspell Victoria, but the footballer's enthusiasm for the language (less "tacky" than English, he explained) was then seen as a big win for those in the forefront of India's cultural diplomacy.

Since then, India's ambitions to acquire "soft power" - the term used by Harvard academic Joseph Nye to describe the international influence a nation acquires when others are drawn to its culture and ideas - have soared. Next week, India will be guest of honour at the Frankfurt book fair and the subject of a four-month festival that opens at the Palais des Beaux Arts in Brussels.