India, officially the Republic of India, has full diplomatic relations with 201 states, including Palestine, the Holy See, Niue and the Cook Islands. The Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) is the government agency responsible for the conduct of foreign relations of India. With the world's third largest military expenditure, second largest armed force, fourth largest economy by GDP nominal rates and third largest economy in terms of purchasing power parity, India is a prominent regional power and a potential superpower.

According to the MEA, the main purposes of Indian diplomacy include protecting India's national interests, promoting friendly relations with other states, and providing consular services to "foreigners and Indian nationals abroad." In recent decades, India has pursued an expansive foreign policy, including the neighborhood-first policy embodied by SAARC as well as the Look East policy to forge more extensive economic and strategic relationships with East and Southeast Asian countries. It has also maintained a policy of strategic ambiguity, which involves its "no first use" nuclear policy and its neutral stance on the Russo-Ukrainian War.

India is a member of several intergovernmental organisations, such as the United Nations, the Asian Development Bank, BRICS, and the G-20, which is widely considered the main economic locus of emerging and developed nations. India exerts a salient influence as the founding member of the Non-Aligned Movement. India has also played an important and influential role in other international organisations, such as the East Asia Summit, World Trade Organization, International Monetary Fund (IMF), G8+5 and IBSA Dialogue Forum. India is also a member of the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank and the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation. As a former British colony, India is a member of the Commonwealth of Nations and continues to maintain relationships with other Commonwealth countries.

History

India's relations with the world have evolved since the British Raj (1857–1947), when the British Empire took responsibility for handling external and defence relations. When India gained independence in 1947, few Indians had experience in making or conducting foreign policy. However, the country's oldest political party, the Indian National Congress, had established a small foreign department in 1925 to make overseas contacts and to publicise its independence struggle. From the late 1920s on, Jawaharlal Nehru, who had a long-standing interest in world affairs among independence leaders, formulated the Congress's stance on international issues in tandem with V. K. Krishna Menon; after 1947, they articulated India's worldview as Prime Minister and de facto Foreign Minister.

India's international influence varied over the years after independence. Indian prestige and moral authority were high in the 1950s and facilitated the acquisition of developmental assistance from both East and West. Although the prestige stemmed from India's nonaligned stance, and in particular the position it placed Indian diplomats, like Menon, to mediate or conciliate in others' disputes, the nation was unable to prevent Cold War politics from becoming intertwined with interstate relations in South Asia. On the intensely debated Kashmir issue with Pakistan, India lost credibility by rejecting United Nations' calls for a plebiscite in the disputed area.Itty Abraham, "From Bandung to NAM: Non-alignment and Indian foreign policy, 1947–65." Commonwealth & Comparative Politics 46.2 (2008): 195–219.

In the 1960s and 1970s, India's international position among developed and developing countries faded during wars with China and Pakistan, disputes with other countries in South Asia, and India's attempt to match Pakistan's support from the United States and China by signing the Indo-Soviet Treaty of Friendship and Cooperation in August 1971. Although India obtained substantial Soviet military and economic aid, which helped to strengthen the nation, India's influence was undercut regionally and internationally by the perception that its friendship with the Soviet Union prevented a more forthright condemnation of the Soviet presence in Afghanistan. In the late 1980s, India improved relations with the United States, other developed countries, and China while continuing close ties with the Soviet Union. Relations with its South Asian neighbours, especially Pakistan, Sri Lanka, and Nepal, occupied much of the energies of the Ministry of External Affairs.India – Foreign Relations . Countrystudies.us. Retrieved 12 November 2011.

Even before independence, the Indian colonial government maintained semi-autonomous diplomatic relations. It had colonies (such as the Aden Settlement), that sent and received full missions.High Commission of India in Australia: India Australia Relations . Hcindia-au.org (20 April 2011). Retrieved 12 November 2011. India was a founder member of both the League of NationsFirst Assembly, Geneva, 15 November – 18 December 1920 . Indiana.edu (18 December 1920). Retrieved 12 November 2011. and the United Nations.UN list of members by admission . United Nations. Retrieved 12 November 2011. After India gained independence from the United Kingdom in 1947, it soon joined the Commonwealth of Nations and strongly supported independence movements in other colonies, like the Indonesian National Revolution.http://old.thejakartapost.com/yesterdaydetail.asp?fileid=20080717.B08 The partition and various territorial disputes, particularly that over Kashmir, would strain its relations with Pakistan for years to come. During the Cold War, India adopted a foreign policy of not aligning itself with any major power bloc. However, India developed close ties with the Soviet Union and received extensive military support from it.

Post-Cold War

The end of the Cold War significantly affected India's foreign policy, as it did for much of the world. The country now seeks to strengthen its diplomatic and economic ties with the United States,Fact Sheet: United States and India: Strategic Partnership . Georgewbush-whitehouse.archives.gov (22 February 2006). Retrieved 12 November 2011.India and . Ibef.org. Retrieved 12 November 2011. the European Union trading bloc, Japan,India and Japan . Ibef.org. Retrieved 12 November 2011. Israel,India-Israel Partnership . Meria.idc.ac.il. Retrieved 12 November 2011. Mexico,Mexico " International Relations and Brazil.India, Brazil ink nine agreements . Rediff.com. Retrieved 12 November 2011. India has also forged close ties with the member states of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations,India & Asean . Ibef.org. Retrieved 12 November 2011. the African Union,Terral, Jim. (4 April 2008) World Report: "India 2nd largest importer of conventional weapons," Business Standard, 14 February 2008 . Worldreport.cjly.net. Retrieved 12 November 2011. the Arab LeagueIndo-Arab relations; an account of India's relations with the Arab World from ancient up to modern times . Worldcat.org. Retrieved 12 November 2011. and Iran.

Though India continues to have a military relationship with Russia,Prospects for India-Russia Security Relations – Carnegie Endowment for International Peace . Carnegieendowment.org. Retrieved 12 November 2011. Israel has emerged as India's second-largest military partner while India has built a strong strategic partnership with the United States. The foreign policy of Narendra Modi indicated a shift towards focusing on the Asian region and, more broadly, trade deals.

Policy

India's foreign policy has always regarded the concept of neighborhood as one of widening concentric circles, around a central axis of historical and cultural commonalities.Introduction to India's Foreign Policy, Embassy of India – Washington, DC . Indianembassy.org. Retrieved 12 November 2011. As many as 44 million people of Indian origin live and work abroad and constitute an important link with the mother country. An important role of India's foreign policy has been to ensure their welfare and well-being within the framework of the laws of the country where they live.

Role of the Prime Minister

Jawaharlal Nehru, India's first Prime Minister, promoted a strong personal role for the Prime Minister. Nehru served concurrently as Prime Minister and Minister of External Affairs; he made all major foreign policy decisions himself after consulting with his advisers and then entrusted the conduct of international affairs to senior members of the Indian Foreign Service. He was the main founding father of the Panchsheel or the Five Principles of Peaceful Co-existence. His successors continued to exercise considerable control over India's international dealings, although they appointed separate ministers of external affairs.India's second prime minister, Lal Bahadur Shastri (1964–66), expanded the Prime Minister's Office (sometimes called the Prime Minister's Secretariat) and enlarged its powers. By the 1970s, the Office of the Prime Minister had become the de facto coordinator and supra-ministry of the Indian government. The enhanced role of the office strengthened the prime minister's control over foreign policymaking at the expense of the Ministry of External Affairs. Advisers in the office provided channels of information and policy recommendations in addition to those offered by the Ministry of External Affairs. A subordinate part of the office—the Research and Analysis Wing (RAW)—functioned in ways that significantly expanded the information available to the prime minister and his advisers. The RAW gathered intelligence, provided intelligence analysis to the Office of the Prime Minister, and conducted covert operations abroad.

The prime minister's control and reliance on personal advisers in the Office of the Prime Minister was particularly strong under the tenures of Indira Gandhi (1966–77 and 1980–84) and her son, Rajiv (1984–89), who succeeded her, and weaker during the periods of coalition governments. Observers find it difficult to determine whether the locus of decision-making authority on any issue lies with the Ministry of External Affairs, the Council of Ministers, the Office of the Prime Minister, or the prime minister himself.

The Prime Minister is, however, free to appoint advisers and special committees to examine various foreign policy options and areas of interest. In a recent instance, Manmohan Singh appointed K. Subrahmanyam in 2005 to head a special government task force to study 'Global Strategic Developments' over the next decade. The Task Force submitted its conclusions to the Prime Minister in 2006. The report has not yet been released in the public domain.

India's historical inclination towards a "non-aligned" foreign policy has witnessed a shift under Prime Minister Narendra Modi's leadership since 2014, as New Delhi has displayed a heightened level of "assertiveness" in its international engagements.

Ministry of External Affairs

The Ministry of External Affairs is the Indian government's agency responsible for the foreign relations of India. The Minister of External Affairs holds cabinet rank as a member of the Council of Ministers. Subrahmanyam Jaishankar is the current Minister of External Affairs. The Ministry has a Minister of State V Muraleedharan. The Indian Foreign Secretary is the head of the Indian Foreign Service (IFS) and therefore serves as the head of all Indian ambassadors and high commissioners.Ministry of External Affairs website . Meaindia. nic.in (29 October 2011). Retrieved 12 November 2011. Vinay Mohan Kwatra is the current Foreign Secretary of India.

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