Indian Ocean in the emerging geo-strategic context: examining India’s relations with its maritime South Asian neighbors

ABSTRACT

The Indian Ocean lies at the core of India’s maritime strategy. Despite the fact that post independence it did not receive the attention it deserved due to several structural and policy inadequacies, India is pursuing a twin strategy of bolstering maritime defense capacity and harnessing maritime resources. The former is aimed to equip India with the capability to undertake maritime operation in the Indian Ocean, while the latter is to devise a cooperative strategy to harness maritime resources and deal with common challenges that confront the South Asian littoral states. This article examines the evolution of India’s approach to the Indian Ocean in the context of China’s growing presence in the region. It analyzes India’s policies toward South Asian maritime neighbors, their responses to India’s strategies and examines what the future holds for India in the emerging geopolitical context.

KEYWORDS:

• Indian Ocean
• South Asia
• India
• maritime strategy
• China

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Notes on contributor

Smruti S Pattanaik is a Research Fellow at the Institute for Defence Studies and Analyses (IDSA), New Delhi. She was previously Visiting Professor and India Chair at the University of Colombo. She specialises on India's Neighbourhood Policy.