Examine the role of the Indian Navy in operationalising India's SAGAR vision through bilateral and multilateral exercises.

SAGAR — Security and Growth for All in the Region — makes India a net security provider in the Indian Ocean. The Indian Navy translates this doctrine into practice mainly through a calendar of exercises that build trust, interoperability and habit with neighbouring navies, though exercises alone cannot substitute for binding agreements.

How exercises operationalise SAGAR

• Bilateral track: SLINEX, conceptualised in 2005 with Sri Lanka, ran its 12th edition at Colombo in August 2025 with INS Jyoti and INS Rana, and its latest edition at Visakhapatnam [1]. Its Harbour and Sea Phases build professional exchange and joint drills.
• Capability-building for smaller navies: India has committed to augment Sri Lanka's maritime capacity through hydrography, defence platforms, joint exercises and surveillance [2] — the "Security" pillar of SAGAR.
• Multilateral track: the Colombo Security Conclave, whose 7th NSA-level meeting was held in New Delhi on 20 November 2025, now includes Sri Lanka, Maldives, Mauritius, Bangladesh and Seychelles across five pillars from maritime safety to HADR [3]. Exercises feed skills into this wider network.
• Growth pillar: naval diplomacy is reinforced by economic anchors — the 120 MW Sampur solar project and Trincomalee's development as an energy hub [4].

Limitations

• No binding framework: India and Sri Lanka have only agreed to explore a framework Agreement on Defence Cooperation [2]; exercises create habit, not obligation.
• Capability asymmetry caps complexity — both Defence Secretaries agreed at the 7th Annual Defence Dialogue to increase the complexity of bilateral exercises [5], implicitly conceding they remain basic.
• Routine drills cannot by themselves prevent partner states from hosting extra-regional naval presence.

Exercises are therefore the Navy's most visible, but not its most durable, SAGAR instrument. Converting two decades of goodwill into a signed defence framework, adding a measurably harder drill each edition, and standardising SLINEX procedures across Colombo Security Conclave members would turn periodic cooperation into permanent regional capacity — realising SAGAR's promise of security and growth for the whole neighbourhood.