A year after Prime Minister Narendra Modi introduced the MAHASAGAR vision during his visit to Mauritius, India’s maritime outreach is showing signs of a broader shift in scale and ambition. What began as an expansion of the earlier SAGAR doctrine has gradually translated into a wider set of naval deployments, exercises and partnerships across the Indian Ocean and parts of the Indo-Pacific.
MAHASAGAR — Mutual and Holistic Advancement for Security and Growth Across Regions — was announced in March 2025 as a step beyond the SAGAR framework of Security and Growth for All in the Region, which India had unveiled a decade earlier in 2015. SAGAR had largely centred on strengthening maritime security cooperation with India’s immediate neighbours, particularly small island and coastal states in the Indian Ocean Region. Through naval patrols, coastal radar networks, training programmes and humanitarian missions, India sought to position itself as a dependable security partner for countries such as Sri Lanka, the Maldives, Seychelles and Mauritius.
The new framework widens that outlook. Rather than focusing only on security cooperation in the Indian Ocean, MAHASAGAR connects maritime engagement with economic partnerships, infrastructure support and capacity building across a larger geography that includes Africa and Southeast Asia. The idea, Indian officials say, is to reflect the reality that the seas linking the Indo-Pacific are central to both global trade and regional stability.
For India, the maritime domain has acquired increasing importance in recent years. Nearly two-thirds of global trade moves through Indo-Pacific sea lanes, while close to 90 per cent of India’s trade is carried by sea. Ensuring stability along these routes has therefore become a priority not only for security planners but also for economic policymakers.
Over the past year, the Indian Navy has been at the centre of translating the MAHASAGAR vision into practice. Naval exercises, joint patrols and humanitarian missions have expanded, often involving partners from outside the immediate Indian Ocean neighbourhood.
One of the earliest initiatives under the new framework was the Africa-India Key Maritime Engagement (AIKEYME) exercise held in April 2025 off the coast of Tanzania. The exercise brought together navies from ten African countries and focused on improving coordination at sea, joint patrols and operational interoperability in the Western Indian Ocean. The drills were seen as part of India’s attempt to deepen maritime cooperation with African littoral states.
Another initiative was the deployment of INS Sunayna under the Indian Ocean Ship (IOS) SAGAR programme. The ship sailed with a multinational crew that included personnel from nine partner countries, such as Kenya, Seychelles and the Maldives.
India’s naval engagement has also expanded beyond the region. In another first, India and the European Union conducted their first joint naval exercise in the Indian Ocean in June 2025. The exercise focused on counter-piracy operations and operational coordination. Bilateral exercises with Indo-Pacific partners have continued as well.
Humanitarian assistance and disaster relief operations continue to shape India’s maritime role in the region. When Cyclone Ditwah hit Sri Lanka in November 2025, the Indian Navy launched Operation Sagar Bandhu. Ships such as INS Vikrant, INS Udaygiri and INS Sukanya were deployed with relief supplies, medical teams and rescue personnel, delivering more than 1,000 tonnes of aid to affected areas.
A few months earlier, India had mounted another relief effort after a powerful earthquake struck Myanmar. Under Operation Brahma, naval ships and aircraft carried roughly 750 metric tonnes of relief material. The Indian Army also deployed a field hospital, where medical teams treated thousands of injured residents.
India’s naval deployments have also supported relief work further afield. During the heavy floods that affected Kenya in the 2024–25 season, the patrol vessel INS Sumedha delivered humanitarian assistance to the region.
Regional cooperation mechanisms have also been developing in parallel. The Colombo Security Conclave — which began with India, Sri Lanka and the Maldives — has gradually expanded. Mauritius and Bangladesh are now full members, and Seychelles has also joined as the sixth member after initially participating as an observer.
The scale of India’s naval diplomacy was evident earlier this year when Visakhapatnam hosted MILAN 2026, a multilateral naval exercise that brought together ships and aircraft from 74 countries. Around the same time, the city hosted the International Fleet Review 2026, where President Droupadi Murmu reviewed more than 85 ships, demonstrating India’s “Builder’s Navy” status with indigenous platforms like INS Vikrant.
A year after it was introduced, MAHASAGAR is still taking shape. But the range of naval deployments, humanitarian missions and partnerships over the past twelve months suggests how India intends to pursue the idea, with the Indian Navy continuing to play a central role in expanding the country’s maritime engagement across the region.