Under the MAHASAGAR framework, India launched two critical initiatives: the Africa-India Key Maritime Engagement (AIKEYME) naval exercise and the Indian Ocean Ship (IOS) SAGAR mission. Scheduled to take place from 13 April to 18 April 2025, AIKEYME is a landmark joint naval exercise co-hosted by India and Tanzania off Dar-es-Salaam.
NEW DELHI: Over a decade ago, on 12 March 2015, Prime Minister Narendra Modi outlined New Delhi’s prescient maritime doctrine of SAGAR—Security and Growth for All in the Region—during a landmark visit to Mauritius. At its core, SAGAR was an articulation of India’s historical and cultural maritime identity, merged with a clear-eyed strategic aspiration for regional stability, security, and collective prosperity. A decade on, SAGAR has evolved substantially, maturing into a broader vision called MAHASAGAR (Mutual and Holistic Advancement for Security And Growth Across Regions), announced by Modi in March 2025 in Mauritius itself.
This progression is not mere rhetorical evolution. SAGAR was about nurturing a neighbourhood-first maritime policy, a conscious pivot from India’s historically continental mindset towards the seas. MAHASAGAR extends this maritime vision outward, explicitly encompassing the greater Indian Ocean Region (IOR), Indo-Pacific, and Africa. Today, as India deepens its naval diplomacy, Africa emerges as the new strategic frontier, the gateway to India’s broader ambitions as a credible and preferred security partner in the Global South.
RISE OF SAGAR
From its inception, SAGAR had a comprehensive vision: promoting trust, adhering to international maritime laws, and establishing robust naval cooperation. Its principles aligned naturally with India’s ancient maritime traditions of peaceful coexistence and regional interdependence. A significant player in implementing this vision has been the Indian Navy, which swiftly moved from being a regional maritime force to a trusted partner capable of delivering diplomatic dividends, security assistance, and humanitarian relief.
The Indian Navy under SAGAR expanded its operational envelope substantially. In 2017, it launched the Mission-Based Deployment strategy, deploying warships proactively in vital choke points and maritime hubs across the Indian Ocean Region. Indian warships conducted high-profile humanitarian missions—firefighting and salvage during MT New Diamond’s fire off Sri Lanka and daring anti-piracy operations like MV Ruen’s rescue from Somali pirates by INS Kolkata. Moreover, India delivered critical aid through Mission SAGAR during the COVID-19 pandemic, shipping vaccines and medical support to Mauritius, Maldives, Seychelles, Comoros, and Madagascar.
Beyond humanitarian assistance, the Indian Navy became instrumental in the region’s capacity-building and security infrastructure initiatives. Notably, the Information Fusion Centre—Indian Ocean Region (IFC-IOR) in Gurugram coordinates maritime surveillance, effectively curbing piracy, drug trafficking, and illegal fishing through shared information with maritime agencies of partner nations. The Indian Navy’s consistent presence and meaningful collaborations gradually solidified India’s reputation as a reliable maritime partner.
MAHASAGAR: STRATEGIC OUTREACH TO AFRICA
The announcement of MAHASAGAR in 2025 marked a significant extension of SAGAR’s vision. By explicitly targeting engagement beyond immediate Indian Ocean littorals, it signified India’s recognition of Africa as central to its strategic maritime calculus. As China’s naval footprint in Africa, notably in Djibouti, and its strategic interest across the continent continue to rise, India’s proactive naval diplomacy became essential to counterbalance these developments.
Under the MAHASAGAR framework, India launched two critical initiatives: the Africa-India Key Maritime Engagement (AIKEYME) naval exercise and the Indian Ocean Ship (IOS) SAGAR mission. Scheduled to take place from 13 April to 18 April 2025, AIKEYME is a landmark joint naval exercise co-hosted by India and Tanzania off Dar-es-Salaam. Ten African states are participating, including Kenya, Mozambique, Seychelles, Mauritius, and South Africa. With comprehensive harbour and sea phases, this exercise strengthens interoperability among regional navies against common maritime threats like piracy, trafficking, and illegal fishing.
Concurrently, the IOS SAGAR mission was deployed on 5 April aboard INS Sunayna (renamed IOS SAGAR for the mission duration), featuring an unprecedented multinational crew from nine African and Indian Ocean states, including Mozambique, Comoros, Seychelles, Maldives, and Mauritius. Operating jointly, this crew patrols exclusive economic zones (EEZ), conducts surveillance, and participates in capability-enhancement exercises and port visits across vital maritime hubs like Port Louis, Nacala, and Dar-es-Salaam.
Such multi-country maritime operations reinforce India’s credibility as a security enabler that promotes regional maritime autonomy. Unlike traditional naval powers that often project dominance, India’s naval strategy prioritises collective capacity-building, collaborative operations, and trust-building—cornerstones that underpin sustainable diplomatic engagement.
INDIA’S HYDROGRAPHIC DIPLOMACY
Another critical, though less visible, aspect of India’s maritime diplomacy is its sustained hydrographic assistance to African and Indian Ocean littorals. Hydrography, involving detailed underwater mapping, directly contributes to economic growth, security, and maritime governance. Several African and IOR countries have significantly benefited from India’s hydrographic surveys, enabling them to submit claims for extended continental shelf areas under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS). For instance, Seychelles and Mauritius jointly secured an additional 396,000 sq km of continental shelf area in 2011, directly enabled by India’s technical support.
In stark contrast, China’s recent hydrographic engagements, such as the memorandum with the Maldives through the South China Sea Institute of Oceanology, appear less benign. With opaque objectives and dual-use survey vessels capable of intelligence gathering, these Chinese engagements raise legitimate regional security concerns. India’s approach, prioritising transparent, capacity-enhancing assistance, presents a clear strategic counterpoint, offering African nations an alternative partnership model grounded in trust and shared interests.
AFRICA AND THE GLOBAL SOUTH
India’s intensified maritime diplomacy in Africa positions it uniquely as a voice for the Global South—one advocating regional stability, security, and equitable economic growth. While China’s extensive investment in maritime infrastructure across Africa has often been characterised as predatory, India’s strategy emphasises sustainability, inclusivity, and collaborative growth.
Initiatives like IOS SAGAR are symbolic of India’s maritime philosophy: naval diplomacy with a human face. Multinational crews aboard ships like IOS SAGAR foster interpersonal bonds and cultural exchange, transcending traditional military exercises. Such engagements forge lasting relationships, making India’s maritime cooperation not merely transactional but enduringly human-centric.
Complementing these efforts is India’s upcoming chairmanship of the Indian Ocean Naval Symposium (IONS) later in 2025, reinforcing its role as a responsible regional leader. This critical diplomatic forum exemplifies India’s sustained commitment to multilateralism, regional cooperation, and collaborative maritime governance.
FUTURE MARITIME PATHWAYS
India’s maritime strategy, represented by SAGAR and now MAHASAGAR, has successfully transitioned from vision to reality. The consistent naval diplomacy, hydrographic assistance, capacity-building, and cooperative maritime missions provide African nations and broader Global South countries with a credible alternative to external domination.
However, sustaining this momentum will require continuous strategic investments, rigorous operational planning, and proactive engagement. Enhanced coordination within India’s maritime diplomatic framework and the strategic leveraging of its vibrant private defence sector will be crucial in cementing India’s role as the preferred regional security partner. Additionally, extending AIKEYME to encompass West African littorals will further reinforce India’s comprehensive maritime cooperation across Africa.
BLUEPRINT FOR COLLABORATIVE MARITIME SECURITY
India’s decade-long maritime journey from SAGAR to MAHASAGAR encapsulates a strategic maturation that genuinely responds to contemporary geopolitical realities. As India enhances its naval footprint and strategic engagement in Africa, it demonstrates a diplomacy uniquely suited to the realities of the 21st-century maritime domain: collaborative, inclusive, and sustainable.
In this new geopolitical dynamic, India is not merely offering security; it’s building relationships based on trust, cooperation, and shared prosperity. As India continues to grow its maritime influence, it represents a compelling model for the Global South—an enduring regional partnership that is both strategic and humane, offering Africa and the broader Indo-Pacific region a genuinely collaborative and sustainable alternative.
* Ashish Singh is an award-winning senior journalist with over 18 years of experience in defence & strategic affairs.