The Indian Technical and Economic Cooperation (ITEC) programme has quietly, but decisively, become one of the most enduring pillars of defence engagement between India and Bangladesh. Even as their diplomatic relationship has faced significant strain in the past 18 months, ITEC has facilitated a robust level of maritime cooperation that has proven remarkably resistant to political turbulence.
The foundation of this resilience lies in decades of naval training exchanges that have fostered a network of personal and institutional connections between the two countries. Between fiscal years 2016–17 and 2024–25, the Bangladesh Navy sent 419 personnel to India for training in key areas such as navigation, communications, engineering, hydrography, and maritime law enforcement. These comprehensive programmes have gone well beyond basic training, creating a deep professional familiarity between officers. Even during the politically fraught 2024–25 period, 34 Bangladeshi officers continued their courses in Indian naval institutions, underlining the strength of this training relationship despite a broader diplomatic chill.
This continuity of training stood in stark contrast to other aspects of defence cooperation. The bilateral army exercise SAMPRITI, for example, has been stalled since its 11th edition in October 2023. Furthermore, in May 2025, Dhaka withdrew from an 800-tonne ocean-going tug contract, a project financed under India’s $500-million defence line of credit. These setbacks highlighted the vulnerability of hardware-centric cooperation to political recalibration.
At sea, however, maritime engagements proceeded as planned. In 2025, the fifth Bongosagar naval exercise and the sixth edition of the Coordinated Patrol (CORPAT) in the Bay of Bengal were carried out as scheduled. INS Ranvir of the Indian Navy and BNS Abu Ubaidah of the Bangladesh Navy operated in designated sectors along the maritime boundary, conducting communication drills, manoeuvres, VBSS cross-boarding, and coordinated tactical evolutions. These exercises demonstrated how training-driven engagement has remained one of the most stable aspects of bilateral ties.
India’s capacity-building approach has long been a cornerstone of its maritime outreach across the Indian Ocean Region. Countries such as Sri Lanka, the Maldives, and Mauritius have benefitted from structured, predictable naval training programmes that emphasize interoperability and professional norms, rather than transactional, hardware-based outcomes.
This approach aligns with India’s SAGAR (Security and Growth for All in the Region) framework, which prioritizes collective capacity-building and cooperative stewardship of maritime spaces. In an era when major powers, including China, are expanding their presence across the Bay of Bengal, investing in people rather than platforms has proven to be a more sustainable path to lasting partnerships. Officers trained in Indian institutions develop a working familiarity with India’s systems and doctrine, which fosters trust and cooperation.
For Bangladesh, this has meant that naval engagement remains one of the least disrupted elements of the bilateral relationship, even when diplomacy has been strained. The 2025 Bongosagar and CORPAT exercises were less about sending political signals and more about maintaining continuity—a testament to a professional relationship that operates independently of shifting political currents.
Today, ITEC is more than just a technical assistance programme. It has become one of India’s most resilient instruments of maritime diplomacy—steady, understated, and difficult to dismantle.
