Is India Retreating from its Act East to Act Indo-Pacific Policy?

India’s Act East Policy (AEP) was adopted by Prime Minister Narendra Modi at the ASEAN-India Summit in Myanmar after his government came to power in 2014. The policy’s focus was on economic and security integration as well as on maintaining friendly relations with Southeast and East Asian countries. In the Act East context, India’s maritime reach started performing comparatively better than its land outreach. Although the Modi government was successful in its vision to strengthen regional institutional cooperation, capability, and connectivity, many of the Act East projects have not either seen much progress or have been hampered by delays, or many are still conceptual. However, the AEP has created ideological precedence for Modi’s wider ambition to counter China’s regional dominance. Scholars argue that the regional framework of the Asia-Pacific is fast shifting to a larger geopolitical construct of the Indo-Pacific, thereby posing serious challenges for the region. In 2018, Modi espoused a “free, open, prosperous and inclusive Indo-Pacific Region,” and asked for commitments based on shared values and principles. This paper will discuss whether the ‘Act East’ trajectory is getting transformed into Act Indo-Pacific.