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The monthly magazine, June 2026 · Global Affairs and International Relations › India and world regions › Indian Ocean and Indo Pacific · Lead articles only
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हिन्दी — Read in HindiIndian Ocean and Indo Pacific
India's role in the Indian Ocean and the wider Indo Pacific.
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India and the Indian Ocean islands
Copy link to India and the Indian Ocean islandsPrelims and Mains
LeadIndia's island diplomacy: Seychelles at fifty and the MAHASAGAR visionJune 2026
Why in news
The Prime Minister paid a state visit to Seychelles from 27 to 29 June 2026 and was Guest of Honour at the fiftieth anniversary of its independence. India handed over a fast patrol vessel, signed a line of credit, an extradition treaty and an agreement to bring the Unified Payments Interface to the islands.
Background
- Seychelles is an archipelago of 115 islands whose exclusive economic zone covers about 1.4 million square kilometres, far more sea than land.
- India established relations at its independence in 1976. It has long supplied patrol craft, aircraft and coastal radars, and the islands are part of India's coastal surveillance radar network.
- Island states matter out of proportion to their size: they hold vast sea zones, sit on shipping lanes, and vote at the United Nations.
- India's framework for the region moved from Security and Growth for All in the Region (SAGAR) (2015) to Mutual and Holistic Advancement for Security and Growth Across Regions (MAHASAGAR), announced in Mauritius in 2025, which joins security help to development and people centred projects.
What the visit delivered
- Security: the patrol vessel Lespwar, built by Goa Shipyard, for policing the exclusive economic zone against illegal fishing, piracy and trafficking.
- Development: an umbrella line of credit, a new national hospital, generic medicines under the Jan Aushadhi scheme, and farm research.
- Systems: the Unified Payments Interface, an extradition treaty, recognition of seafarers' certificates and space cooperation. These tie a small state into Indian digital and legal systems.
- The visit returned President Herminie's state visit to India of February 2026, when India announced a 175 million dollar package.
The competition for the islands
- Other powers court the same states with ports, loans and security pacts, and a small state can choose among them.
- India's edge is proximity, first response in disasters and training; its weakness is thin trade.
- The Assumption Island facility, agreed in 2015, is still stalled by local opposition: a lesson that a project seen as foreign basing becomes a liability.
The way forward
- Keep projects locally owned and visible to the public: hospitals, payments, scholarships.
- Build maritime domain awareness together, through the Gurugram fusion centre and shared radars, rather than seek bases.
- Widen the frame from bilateral to regional: the Colombo Security Conclave and the Indian Ocean Rim Association.
Prelims facts
- Seychelles: capital Victoria, on Mahé; independence 29 June 1976.
- MAHASAGAR (2025) succeeded SAGAR, Security and Growth for All in the Region (2015).
- The Information Fusion Centre for the Indian Ocean Region is at Gurugram.
- The Colombo Security Conclave groups India with island and littoral states of the region.
- The patrol vessel Lespwar was built by Goa Shipyard.
Seychelles is an archipelago of 115 islands whose exclusive economic zone covers about 1.4 million square kilometres, far more sea than land.