In 2014, Prime Minister Narendra Modi led a decisive transformation in India's foreign policy towards East and Southeast Asia by announcing the Act East Policy. This articulation signified a shift from aspirational intent to concrete action. It was a recognition that India must engage more purposefully with Southeast Asia's rapidly evolving political, economic, and security dynamics, as well as the increasingly significant Indo-Pacific region.

Since then, the Act East Policy has matured into a multifaceted framework, guiding India's strategic engagements with ASEAN member states, deepening cooperation in the Indo-Pacific, and expanding outreach to Pacific Island nations. Under Prime Minister Modi's leadership, India has positioned itself as an economic development partner and a responsible stakeholder in Indo-Pacific stability, connectivity, and resilience.

The policy's implementation since 2014 has led to a qualitative upgrade in India's relations with ASEAN. High-level exchanges have been frequent and substantive. India has consistently participated in annual ASEAN-India Summits, East Asia Summits, and ASEAN Defence Ministers' Meetings Plus (ADMM+), demonstrating its commitment to multilateral regional processes. In 2022, this culminated in the elevation of India-ASEAN ties to a Comprehensive Strategic Partnership—a significant recognition of India's constructive role in the region.

India's relations with individual ASEAN nations have expanded across sectors. Defence and maritime cooperation with Vietnam and the Philippines, investment partnerships with Singapore, technological collaboration with Malaysia, and digital and health diplomacy with Indonesia reflect this diversification. Connectivity projects, such as the India-Myanmar-Thailand Trilateral Highway and the Kaladan Multi-Modal Transit Transport Project, are critical components of this engagement, aimed at improving access, trade, and mobility between India and Southeast Asia. ASEAN is one of India's major trade partners, accounting for about 11% of India's global trade. Bilateral trade in FY 2023-24 was valued at $121 billion.

Parallel to ASEAN engagement, India has contributed meaningfully to shaping the evolving Indo-Pacific architecture. PM Modi's articulation of the Indo-Pacific Oceans Initiative (IPOI) in 2019 outlined India's vision for a free, open, inclusive, and rules-based maritime space. The IPOI focuses on cooperation that moves beyond traditional military or political spheres in areas such as maritime security, marine ecology, disaster risk reduction, and sustainable resource use. Several key countries, including Australia and Japan, have joined hands with India to operationalise its pillars.

India's participation in the Quadrilateral Security Dialogue (Quad), alongside the United States, Japan, and Australia, has also gained substantive momentum under PM Modi's leadership. Revived in 2017 and elevated to the leader-level format in 2021, Quad has grown beyond security cooperation to include joint efforts in critical technologies, infrastructure, vaccine delivery, and climate action. India's engagement in Quad summits with like-minded countries demonstrates its belief (and which aligns with the countries in the region) in a multipolar and cooperative Indo-Pacific not dominated by a single country or power bloc, that is, where no single power sets the agenda.

Defence cooperation agreements with Australia (MLSA), Japan (JIDIP), and the United States (LEMOA, COMCOSA, ISA) for logistics support and information sharing, reflect growing strategic trust and the development of an Indo-Pacific security architecture that was never achieved before. India has also participated in multilateral naval exercises such as Malabar and coordinated patrols in the Indo-Pacific waters. These engagements reinforce India's belief in strategic autonomy alongside collective responsibility for regional stability. Not to be mistaken with containment, but to convey that India will not yield to pressure or intimidation. Ensuring that India's interests are respected and its choices remain sovereign."

India's outreach under the Act East Policy has extended beyond Southeast Asia to include the Pacific Island countries—a region has often been overlooked in global diplomacy. Under PM Modi's leadership, the Forum for India–Pacific Islands Cooperation (FIPIC) was launched in 2014 to institutionalise engagement with countries such as Fiji, Papua New Guinea, Samoa, and Tonga. India's regional development partnership has included solar electrification, medical assistance, infrastructure grants, and human resource development. During PM Modi's visit to Papua New Guinea in 2023, India outlined the '12 Point Development Program' to boost ties between India and the island countries.

The approach has been anchored in mutual respect, and India's support has been seen as responsive and demand-driven. In recognition of this, Prime Minister Modi was conferred with the highest civilian honours by Papua New Guinea (Companion of the Order of Logohu) and Fiji ( Companion of the Order of Fiji), both in 2023—reflecting the strong goodwill India now commands among Pacific Island nations. These engagements reaffirm India's inclusive vision of the Indo-Pacific, which places equal importance on small island states as on major regional powers.

Equally significant has been India's commitment to humanitarian assistance and disaster relief in the Indo-Pacific region. Operations such as Mission SAGAR (India COVID Relief Aid), Samudra Maitri (India's Assistance to Earthquake and Tsunami affected areas in Indonesia in 2018), and Vaccine Maitri have demonstrated India's capacity to deliver timely and impactful aid.

Involvement in initiatives like the Indo-Pacific Economic Framework (IPEF) (in 2022) and the Indian Ocean Rim Association (IORA) reflects the economic and cooperative focus that defines the Act East Policy. These platforms have enabled India to promote trade facilitation and develop resilient supply chains and regional connectivity while working with partner countries on climate resilience and digital infrastructure. By engaging in these forums, India has enhanced its regional presence while also shaping the agenda in areas that directly impact economic growth and sustainable development. At the same time, bilateral and trilateral mechanisms with countries like Japan, Australia, and France have complemented India's outreach.

Underpinning this sustained diplomacy is a vision that seeks to align India's rise with regional prosperity and stability. Prime Minister Modi's emphasis on "Security and Growth for All in the Region" (SAGAR) (launched in 2015) reflects a guiding principle for India's maritime and strategic policy. Through SAGAR, India has consistently highlighted the importance of shared ownership, open sea lanes, and peaceful dispute resolution. The transition from Look East to Act East has elevated India's global standing and has offered new economic, strategic, and developmental opportunities for the entire region, especially when India's economic corridors offer an East-West transport corridor for the extension of markets in the West and energy import to the East.

In the last eleven years, India's Act East Policy has laid the foundation for a stable and multipolar Indo-Pacific. The policy has matured into an instrument of stability, demonstrating that engagement based on respect, reciprocity, and resolve can reshape regional dynamics. Today, (in geopolitical contestations), India is an Indo-Pacific power, shaped by a decade of Act East engagement, that, unlike others, does not seek dominance but one that inspires confidence in protecting a rules-based order and respect for territorial sovereignty. Act East has deepened partnerships with ASEAN, positioned India as a responsible maritime power, strengthened cooperation with like-minded democracies, and given voice to the concerns of small island nations.