New Delhi, Sep 30 — Although geopolitical crisis have adversely affected the maritime highways, it has shown that building alternatives is no more a choice but a priority for India, several experts cited on Wednesday during a conference held in New Delhi on 'Strengthening India-ASEAN Maritime Cooperation in the Indo-Pacific'.
Organised by the Chintan Research Foundation (CRF), the gathering of top analysts spotlighted the need for developing alternative supply routes, strengthening maritime connectivity and deepening regional cooperation to safeguard the Indo-Pacific.
They underscored that India and ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations) have to play a greater role in safeguarding the oceans.
India and ASEAN already have a strong institutional foundation in multiple forums and mechanisms but convergence in implementation is crucial. While the seas naturally bind countries, it is the connectivity between them that turns geography into opportunity.
"The cost of hiring a Very Large Crude Carrier (VLCC) has gone up nearly 10 times, and the cost of hiring a container ship has gone up five times than pre-crisis era, which impacts manufacturing, logistics costs, and overall supply chain resilience," said R Lakshmanan, former Joint Secretary at the Ministry of Ports, Shipping and Waterways.
He mentioned that better information-sharing - and the role played by Information Fusion Centre – Indian Ocean Region (IFC-IOR), the Indian Navy-hosted centre that monitors maritime activity in the region - is one way to blunt such shocks.
"IFC-IOR is primarily a security, naval, and coast guard-related mechanism. But, we could expand its scope to include the commercial side by involving port authorities and customs agencies, enabling us to track disruptions to trade and commercial shipping and facilitate the sharing of information," said Lakshmanan.
Other experts reckoned that India–ASEAN maritime cooperation is grounded in shared geography, economic interdependence and a common interest in a secure and resilient Indo-Pacific.
"India-ASEAN maritime cooperation has evolved from declaratory alignment into a structured, multidimensional partnership. The challenge now is to translate this convergence into tangible outcomes, building common understandings and joint responses to both anticipated and unforeseen maritime contingencies," said Ambassador Jaideep Mazumdar while underlining this convergence.
Reinforcing why connectivity matters, Vice Admiral Shekhar Sinha (Retd.) noted that oceans must remain open for shared growth and, with secured seas, safe shipping lanes, comes shared prosperity in the interdependent world.
The conference examined how India–ASEAN cooperation can be broadened and made more resilient amid growing geo-economic uncertainty, maritime disruptions and regional hedging. Strengthening the practical convergence between frameworks such as the ASEAN Outlook on the Indo-Pacific (AOIP), India’s Indo-Pacific Oceans Initiative (IPOI), Act East Policy and MAHASAGAR, while improving maritime security, supply-chain resilience and energy cooperation was highlighted.
The speakers emphasised that the Strait of Hormuz crisis underscores the interconnected vulnerabilities of distant energy routes and regional chokepoints, reinforcing the need for diversified energy and trade routes, stronger East Coast port capacity, alternative connectivity corridors, maritime domain awareness and information-sharing. They also called for greater naval and coast guard cooperation, coordinated patrols and exercises, HADR and search-and-rescue, protection of critical sea lanes, and stronger use of ASEAN-led platforms such as the ARF and ADMM-Plus.
They also highlighted India’s need to deepen its engagement with ASEAN through capacity-building, defence cooperation and connectivity, including in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands.
Speakers stressed that the priority should be to translate existing frameworks and initiatives into sustained operational outcomes through stronger institutional coordination, crisis preparedness and information-sharing. Energy diversification, regional connectivity and maritime domain awareness emerged as key areas for building resilience, while practical cooperation in patrols, exercises, HADR, search-and-rescue and supply-chain security could strengthen the partnership.
With 35 years of India–ASEAN dialogue partnership approaching in 2027, the central challenge identified was turning an established cooperation agenda into tangible and continuous outcomes.