- ASEAN was established in 1967, with its Secretariat at Jakarta. India's engagement with it grew through the Look East Policy of 1991, Dialogue Partner status in 1996, Summit-level partnership in 2002, and Strategic Partnership in 2012. Renamed the Act East Policy in 2014, the relationship was upgraded to a Comprehensive Strategic Partnership in 2022 on completing 30 years of ties.
Challenges in India-ASEAN Relations
- Trust deficit over China: most ASEAN economies are deeply dependent on China, which limits how far they can align with India on strategic issues like the South China Sea; ASEAN itself has not been able to resolve this dispute.
- Connectivity gaps: flagship projects like the India-Myanmar-Thailand Trilateral Highway and the Kaladan Multimodal Transit Project have faced repeated delays, weakening physical linkages.
- Trade imbalance: India runs a persistent trade deficit with ASEAN, and the ASEAN-India Free Trade Area (AITIGA) is seen by Indian industry as tilted in ASEAN's favour.
- Staying out of RCEP: India withdrew from the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership over concerns that cheaper imports, especially from China, would widen its already large trade deficit, with trade with other ASEAN members also being imbalanced.
- Underdeveloped Northeast gateway: India's Northeast, the natural land bridge to ASEAN, suffers from poor road and rail links and residual insurgency, slowing overland connectivity.
- Divergent strategic outlooks: some ASEAN members are wary that India's role in groupings like the Quad could undercut ASEAN centrality in regional security architecture.
Steps Being Taken
- Act East Policy: reoriented the earlier Look East Policy toward proactive engagement on connectivity, commerce, culture, capacity building and security.
- Renewed push on connectivity: the Trilateral Highway is being fast-tracked with a proposed extension to Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam, and the Kaladan project has seen fresh funding commitments.
- Review of AITIGA: at the 20th ASEAN-India Summit held alongside the 18th East Asia Summit in Jakarta, both sides agreed to expedite the review of the ASEAN-India Trade in Goods Agreement to correct the trade imbalance.
- Maritime convergence: India's SAGAR vision and Indo-Pacific Oceans Initiative align closely with the ASEAN Outlook on the Indo-Pacific, creating common ground on maritime security.
- Defence cooperation: regular India-ASEAN Defence Ministers' meetings and the ASEAN-India Maritime Exercise (AIME), held in the South China Sea on 8th May 2023, havestrengthened security ties; India also conducts Bold Kurukshetra with Singapore, the Friendship Exercise with Thailand, and takes part in the multilateral MILAN exercise.
- Digital and development partnership: India is extending its digital public infrastructure (like the UPI stack), satellite cooperation, Quick Impact Projects and scholarships to ASEAN countries.
- Deepening economic ties: since the India-ASEAN Business Council was set up in 2003, an FTA in goods (2009) and in services and investments (2014) has taken bilateral trade to around $100 billion, with both sides now aiming to double it to $200 billion.
- High-level summit outcomes: at the 19th ASEAN-India Summit in Cambodia (2022), the partnership was elevated to a Comprehensive Strategic Partnership; at the 20th Summit in Jakarta, two joint statements were adopted on Maritime Cooperation and on Food Security and Nutrition, and the PM proposed a 12-point cooperation plan covering counter-terrorism, cyber security, the digital economy, regional connectivity, smart agriculture and tourism.
Conclusion:
♦ These steps show that India is genuinely trying to fix the trust deficit and connectivity gaps, but real change will only come if these projects are completed on time. The priority should be finishing the pending highway and transit projects, wrapping up the AITIGA review, and turning India's Northeast into a proper gateway to Southeast Asia. Beyond just fixing old problems, ASEAN also gives India a growing market, a good alternative to relying too much on China, and a partner in keeping the Indo-Pacific secure, so following through on these steps is in India's own interest.