International Relations and India's Foreign Policy

Principles of India's foreign policy

• Panchsheel (1954):
  • mutual respect for territorial integrity and sovereignty;
  • non-aggression;
  • non-interference;
  • equality and mutual benefit;
  • peaceful coexistence.
• Non-Alignment: Nehru, Nasser and Tito; first NAM summit in Belgrade, 1961. Today India's approach is called strategic autonomy or multi-alignment.
• Nuclear doctrine (2003): credible minimum deterrence and no first use. India is not a party to the NPT or the CTBT. The India–US civil nuclear deal (2008) and the NSG waiver followed.
• Doctrines and policies:
  • Gujral Doctrine (1996): goodwill towards smaller neighbours without asking for reciprocity.
  • Neighbourhood First (2014).
  • Act East (2014; Look East from 1991).
  • SAGAR (2015), which became MAHASAGAR (2025) for the Indian Ocean region.
  • Link/Think West, towards the Gulf.

India and its neighbours

Country	Key points
China	1962 war; boundary along the 3,488 km LAC (western, middle and eastern sectors); Galwan clash June 2020; patrolling arrangement in Depsang–Demchok (Oct 2024); trade deficit around US$ 100 billion; BRI and CPEC opposed by India
Pakistan	Wars in 1947–48, 1965, 1971 and 1999 (Kargil); Simla Agreement 1972; Indus Waters Treaty 1960 (put in abeyance by India in April 2025 after the Pahalgam attack); Operation Sindoor (May 2025) strikes on terror camps; Kartarpur corridor (2019)
Bangladesh	Land Boundary Agreement 2015 (enclave exchange through the 100th Amendment); Ganga water treaty 1996, due for renewal in 2026; Teesta dispute; change of government in August 2024 strained ties
Nepal	1950 Treaty of Peace and Friendship; open border; Kalapani–Lipulekh–Limpiyadhura map dispute (2020); hydropower trade
Bhutan	1949 treaty, revised 2007; hydropower (Chukha, Tala, Mangdechhu, Punatsangchhu); Doklam standoff 2017
Sri Lanka	Tamil issue and the 13th Amendment (1987 accord); Hambantota port leased to China; India's US$ ~4 billion aid in the 2022 crisis; Katchatheevu island ceded by India in 1974
Maldives	Operation Cactus (1988); "India Out" campaign (2023); later improvement, with currency swap support
Myanmar	Kaladan Multi-modal Transit Transport project; India–Myanmar–Thailand Trilateral Highway; Free Movement Regime ended in 2024; refugee flows into Mizoram and Manipur
Afghanistan	India built the Salma Dam and Parliament building; engagement with the Taliban since 2021 through a technical mission

Regional and global groupings

• SAARC (1985), with its secretariat in Kathmandu. It has been largely stalled since 2016.
• BIMSTEC (1997), with its secretariat in Dhaka. It has seven members around the Bay of Bengal.
• ASEAN: India has been a summit-level partner since 2002 and a Comprehensive Strategic Partner since 2022. India stayed out of RCEP in 2019.
• SCO: India became a full member in 2017 and chaired it in 2023.
• BRICS: expanded in 2024 with Egypt, Ethiopia, Iran and the UAE, and Indonesia joined in 2025. Its New Development Bank is in Shanghai; K. V. Kamath was the first president.
• Quad (India, US, Japan, Australia). I2U2 (India, Israel, UAE, US).
• G20: India held the presidency in 2023 with the theme "Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam – One Earth, One Family, One Future". The African Union was admitted. The India–Middle East–Europe Economic Corridor (IMEC) was announced at the summit.
• Global South: India held the Voice of Global South Summits from 2023.
• Indian Ocean Rim Association (IORA) and the Colombo Security Conclave.

Global institutions

• United Nations (1945):
  • The Security Council has 15 members: 5 permanent with veto (US, UK, France, Russia, China) and 10 non-permanent members elected for two years.
  • India has been a non-permanent member eight times, most recently in 2021–22.
  • India seeks a permanent seat, together with the G4 (Brazil, Germany, Japan).
• Bretton Woods institutions (1944): the IMF (quota-based voting) and the World Bank group (IBRD, IDA, IFC, MIGA, ICSID).
• WTO (1995): the dispute settlement Appellate Body has not worked since 2019. See the external sector unit.
• Other bodies: the WHO, the ILO (1919, tripartite), the IAEA, the Financial Action Task Force (FATF), the Asian Development Bank (Manila), and the AIIB (Beijing; India is its second-largest shareholder).

Diaspora and soft power

• India has the world's largest diaspora, about 3.5 crore people of Indian origin and NRIs.
• Remittances were about US$ 129 billion in 2024, the highest in the world.
• Pravasi Bharatiya Divas is held on 9 January.
• Operation Ganga (Ukraine 2022) and Operation Kaveri (Sudan 2023) were evacuation missions.
• Soft power: yoga (International Yoga Day, 21 June, since 2015), Bollywood, Buddhist circuits, and vaccine diplomacy (Vaccine Maitri, 2021).

Exam tip: For Mains, organise any bilateral answer under these heads: political, economic (trade and investment), security, connectivity, people-to-people and irritants, then a way forward. Check the latest current affairs. This unit gives the stable background only.