IOS SAGAR & AIKEYME: India's maritime diplomacy sets course for regional leadership | Opinion

In 2015, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, put forward a new vision of maritime security under the acronym SAGAR, standing for 'Security and Growth for All in the Region'. It was India's effort to be a proactive leader in maritime in the Indian Ocean Region (IOR) while ensuring security, economic growth, environment sustainability, and regional integration. Ten years on, SAGAR has evolved from a vision into a series of diplomatic initiatives designed to counter the intricacies of geopolitical realities, especially those of China. Indian Ocean Ship (IOS) SAGAR and Africa India Key Maritime Engagement (AIKEYME) further strengthen India as a major maritime partner and a regional security anchor essential to the security of the seas.

Why SAGAR Matters Strategically

The Indian Ocean Region is vital to India’s economic and strategic health, bearing crucial maritime shipping lanes that account for about 70 percent of India’s imports of oil and 90 percent of its volume-based international trade. Yet, the IOR in the current times is beset by critical challenges—piracy, sea terrorism, illicit fishing, climate vulnerabilities, and geopolitical tensions fuelled primarily by China’s strategic interests. Beijing’s aggressive “String of Pearls” policy, including strategic ports and bases across India, especially its permanent naval base in Djibouti, jeopardizes the regional maritime order, sovereignty, and economic stability of nations in the region.

India’s SAGAR initiative acts as a helpful counterbalance where multilateral cooperation, inclusiveness, and transparency are encouraged. It casts India openly as a ‘Preferred Security Partner’ and ‘First Responder’ in the collective maritime domain, operational interoperability, and amicable relations among the IOR countries.

IOS SAGAR: Practical Maritime Cooperation

IOS SAGAR exemplifies India’s strategic vision with tangible outcomes, operationalising India’s maritime diplomacy through direct engagement. The ’s Offshore Patrol Vessel INS Sunayna, homeported at Kochi and commanded by Cdr Kamal Singh Rana, is the platform for this important mission. The deployment, flagged off from Karwar on 5 April 2025, has 44 personnel from nine IOR nations—Comoros, Kenya, Madagascar, Maldives, Mauritius, Mozambique, Seychelles, Sri Lanka, and Tanzania. This multinational crew reflects India’s commitment to regional harmony and cooperation.

The organized deployment consists of professional training in Indian naval schools, joint Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) patrol operations, passage exercises (PASSEX), and prolonged onboard training activities. Foreign sailors and officers get crucial operational experience through watchkeeping assignments with Indian Navy personnel, thus promoting interoperability and mutual trust. Through provision of intense training in damage control, fire-fighting, and other naval skills, IOS SAGAR in effect prepares regional navies to meet common maritime challenges collectively.

AIKEYME 2025: Strengthening India-Africa Maritime Relations

Complementing IOS SAGAR, the Africa-India Key Maritime Engagement (AIKEYME) is a historic maritime exercise to further India’s engagement with Africa. Planned from 13-18 April 2025 off Dar-es-Salaam, Tanzania, AIKEYME is India’s maiden naval exercise overseas. Reflecting on the Gandhinagar Declaration, AIKEYME endeavors to establish cooperation and mutual capacity building with African armed forces through interoperability enhancement. 

With observers appreciating growing diplomatic relations, the exercise involves important regional naval players like Kenya, Tanzania, South Africa, Comoros, Djibouti, Eritrea, Mauritius, Madagascar, Mozambique, and the Seychelles.

India’s naval deployment consists of a destroyer, a large landing ship tank, and a P8I maritime patrol aircraft, highlighting India’s significant strategic investment in regional maritime security.

AIKEYME’s harbour phase consists of intensive training in seamanship, small arms handling, anti-piracy operations, and advanced maritime exercises like Visit, Board, Search, and Seizure (VBSS).The subsequent sea stage includes operational search and rescues, helicopter activities, and other relevant drills that foster the joint operational integration. From these strained exercises, India is clearly located as being a positive, all embracing and cooperative partner in relations to maritime security.

Regional Responses and Diplomatic Results

Both IOS SAGAR and AIKEYME II have received generous support from the partner countries, elevating India‘s position as a reliable naval force. African participants specifically welcome India’s open, capacity-driven engagements that stand out from China’s debt-laden infrastructure projects. These naval initiatives not only construct useful naval capabilities but also establish enduring diplomatic confidence.

Strategic observers always underscore the effectiveness of India’s integral maritime diplomacy in comparison to China’s brash alternative. India’s proactive leadership at sea clearly offers neighboring nations a powerful strategic alternative to Chinese hegemony, infusing respectfulness, sustainability, and mutual advantage.

Enhancing Maritime Leadership: Policy Proposals

In order to further leverage SAGAR’s strategic success, India now needs to institutionalize its maritime interactions:

Regularised Maritime Exercise Platforms: India needs to make IOS SAGAR and AIKEYME permanent recurring maritime drills on regional defence calendars. Regularised platforms would raise interoperability, deepen functional trust, and build lasting diplomatic connections.

Strengthened Regional Multilateralism: New Delhi will need to engage more deeply with current regional bodies like the Indian Ocean Rim Association (IORA) and BIMSTEC, integrating maritime diplomacy into more comprehensive regional cooperation frameworks. Such integration would increase India’s diplomatic influence and ability to respond to collective maritime threats.

Preemptive Addressal of Emerging Maritime Challenges: India needs to anticipate and address emerging dangers proactively. Sophisticated maritime surveillance capabilities, strong cybersecurity for maritime infrastructure, and sustainable ocean governance practices like combating piracy, pollution, and illegal fishing are imperative to sustaining India’s credibility as a regional leader.

Navgating a Secure Maritime Future

With IOS SAGAR and AIKEYME, India has established a clear standard for successful maritime diplomacy, converting strategic ambitions into cooperative security facts directly. With the geopolitical rivalry in the Indian Ocean region growing hotter by the day, India’s proactive sea leadership will more and more define regional stability, economic wellbeing, and security autonomy.

India needs to now leverage these recent gains to further entrench its position as a regional security provider and diplomatic anchor. By institutionalizing maritime cooperation and actively engaging with emerging maritime challenges, SAGAR has the potential to be the quintessential model of responsible regional maritime leadership—guaranteeing a stable and prosperous Indian Ocean Region for generations to come.

(Manan Bhatt is a naval veteran and a prominent military author and columnist.)