Examine the constraints on India's trade and connectivity with Central Asia and suggest measures to overcome them.

Central Asia is India's "extended neighbourhood", and ties with Uzbekistan — elevated to a Strategic Partnership in 2011 [1] — are politically warm. Yet trade volumes remain modest, because the relationship is constrained less by intent than by geography, logistics and institutional gaps.

Constraints on trade and connectivity

• Absence of direct land access: India shares no land border with the region, and the shortest overland route through Pakistan is closed to Indian transit, forcing dependence on longer, costlier multi-modal routes [3].
• Under-utilised corridors: Chabahar Port and the INSTC are still maturing; the Shahid Beheshti terminal contract was signed only in May 2024, and linking Chabahar to the INSTC remains work in progress [3][4].
• External sanctions risk: Routes running through Iran and Russia expose Indian shippers to payment, insurance and secondary-sanctions uncertainty.
• Narrow trade basket and low investment base: Commerce is concentrated in pharmaceuticals and a few commodities; Indian investment in the region stays small relative to potential [1].
• Strategic competition: China's dense Belt and Road-linked infrastructure and Russia's Eurasian Economic Union give both a first-mover advantage over India.

Measures to overcome them

• Operationalise connectivity: Fast-track Chabahar's cargo handling, formally integrate it with the INSTC, and pursue Ashgabat Agreement transit rights [3][4].
• Institutional depth: Use the India–Central Asia Summit, now institutionalised at two-year intervals since 2022, to convert declarations into implementable projects [2].
• Trade facilitation: Negotiate a preferential/free-trade arrangement with the Eurasian Economic Union and enable rupee-based and local-currency settlement.
• Diversify engagement: Expand digital public infrastructure, pharmaceuticals, critical-minerals sourcing and startup linkages, building on the SCO Startup Forum [5].
• Capacity partnership: Scale ITEC training, education campuses and development-partnership lines of credit as soft-power anchors [1].

India's Central Asia policy must now shift from summitry to delivery. Anchoring connectivity in Chabahar–INSTC, market access in trade agreements, and goodwill in capacity-building can transform a historically close relationship into a durable economic partnership.