Discuss the strategic significance of the Andaman and Nicobar Command in shaping India's maritime cooperation in the Bay of Bengal.

The Andaman and Nicobar Command (ANC) is India's only Operational Quad Service Command. It hosted the maiden BIMSTEC Maritime Security Exercise (30 Oct–3 Nov 2026) [1]. This marks its shift from a defence outpost to a centre of regional maritime cooperation.

Strategic significance

• Location: The islands lie in the eastern Bay of Bengal, close to Myanmar and Thailand. This makes the ANC a natural link between Neighbourhood First and Act East.
• Jointness builds interoperability: In Ex KAVACH, Army, Navy, Air Force and Coast Guard units refined joint SOPs and interoperability [2]. DANX-17 rehearsed the defence of the islands [3]. This record equips the ANC to host multinational drills.
• Gives BIMSTEC a security track: The exercise had a harbour phase (professional and cultural exchanges) and a sea phase (coordinated deployments). It was held in the spirit of the Delhi Declaration, aiming at a "secure, stable and open" Bay [1].
• Supports trade: A secure Bay supports the Maritime Transport Cooperation Agreement signed at the 6th BIMSTEC Summit (2025) [4].
• Non-traditional threats: Indian authorities seized 371 kg and 1,156 kg of methamphetamine from two vessels in the Bay [5]. Such cases make the ANC's forward surveillance valuable.

Limitations

• Drill ahead of rules: The exercise names no specific threat [1]. There is still no common BIMSTEC procedure for sharing information or handing over suspect vessels.
• Uneven participation: Landlocked Nepal and Bhutan cannot send ships.
• Fragmented coordination: The Standing Committee on External Affairs (2025) called India's use of BIMSTEC-type forums "fragmented". It found no dedicated inter-ministerial mechanism and judged efforts against piracy and narcotics "insufficient" [6].

Way forward

• Hold the exercise every year, built around SOPs for sharing ship-tracking data.
• Add joint patrols, intelligence sharing and maritime domain awareness, as the Committee recommended [6].
• Involve customs and police so that seizures at sea lead to convictions.

The ANC has grown from an island garrison into India's operational gateway for cooperation in the Bay of Bengal. The next step is SOPs, joint patrols and regular reviews of results [6]. These would turn trust-building into joint enforcement and advance the SAGAR/MAHASAGAR vision of collective security for an open, stable Bay.