India’s Indo-Pacific Strategy: A Masterclass in Strategic Balancing

Abstract

India’s foreign policy is showing great strategic agility in a polarised world. Between the QUAD where it is working with the US, Japan and Australia on security in the Indo-Pacific and BRICS where it is engaging with China, Russia and emerging economies pushing for multipolarity, India is following a policy of “multi-alignment”. This allows India to have strategic autonomy while benefiting from both blocs. Through QUAD India is strengthening maritime security, technological cooperation and regional deterrence; in BRICS it is pushing economic reforms, digital sovereignty and development financing. Despite tensions – especially with China on border disputes and ideological differences within BRICS – India is navigating these complexities with calculated diplomacy. By balancing partnership with sovereignty and having a forward looking digital and defence agenda India is shaping the global order rather than just reacting to it. This dual engagement positions India not as a junior in power politics but as a potential architect of a new Indo-Pacific and a new global governance paradigm.