Trace how India-ASEAN relations evolved from a sectoral dialogue to a Comprehensive Strategic Partnership. What challenges stand in the way of fully realising the Act East Policy?

India's engagement with ASEAN has moved up step by step over three decades. It began as Secretary-level sectoral talks in 1992 and reached a Comprehensive Strategic Partnership (CSP) in 2022 [2]. ASEAN is called the "central pillar" of the Act East Policy [3]. Even so, gaps in trade, connectivity and strategy still hold the policy back.

Evolution: From Sectoral Dialogue to CSP

1992 Sectoral Dialogue → 1996 Dialogue Partner → 2002 Summit-level
        → 2012 Strategic Partnership → 2022 Comprehensive Strategic Partnership

Fig: India-ASEAN partnership ladder [1][2]

• 1990s (Look East phase): India's economic opening after 1991 led to sectoral partnership in 1992 and full Dialogue Partner status in 1996 [1].
• 2002: India became a Summit-level partner, which started annual leaders' meetings [1].
• 2012: Ties were raised to a Strategic Partnership at the 20th-anniversary Commemorative Summit in New Delhi [1].
• 2022: Ties became a CSP at the 19th Summit, which marked 30 years of relations [2]. The CSP is now carried out through the Plan of Action 2026–2030 [3]. 2026 has been declared the ASEAN-India Year of Maritime Cooperation [4].

Challenges to Realising Act East

• Trade imbalance: Trade reached USD 128.38 billion in 2025–26 [5], but it leans against India. The AITIGA review, meant to fix "trade asymmetries", is still not finished [5]. It has gone through at least eight Joint Committee meetings [6].
• Weak links to regional supply chains: India left RCEP in 2019 because its concerns were not met [7]. This limits its place in East Asian value chains.
• Stalled land connectivity: The Kaladan project and the Trilateral Highway are delayed by Myanmar's internal situation [8]. The July 2026 India-Myanmar meeting set no new deadline [9].
• Diluted maritime consensus: ASEAN decides by consensus, so joint texts stay general. The 2023 Joint Statement asks for a UNCLOS-consistent Code of Conduct but does not mention the 2016 arbitral award [10].
• Bilateral and multilateral efforts out of step: With the Philippines, India has a Strategic Partnership and held a first joint naval exercise in the South China Sea [11]. ASEAN-level cooperation has not matched this depth.

India-ASEAN ties have grown from a narrow sectoral dialogue into a wide CSP, but delivery under Act East lags behind the diplomacy. Three steps would help: a time-bound AITIGA review, dated milestones for the Myanmar projects, and measurable results from the Maritime Year to present at the 35th-anniversary summit in 2027 [3]. Together they can turn the CSP into real outcomes, strengthen ASEAN centrality and support a rules-based, open Indo-Pacific.