Experts urge maritime integration and stronger regional cooperation mechanisms.
A high-level seminar on maritime security and the geopolitical significance of the Bay of Bengal brought together senior naval leadership, diplomats, and policy experts in the national capital, highlighting the region’s growing strategic complexity and the urgent need for deeper regional coordination and strategic imagination.
The National Maritime Foundation, in collaboration with Global Order, under “Samudramanthan,” examined the Bay of Bengal’s strategic, economic, and ecological dimensions and laid the framework for developing policy-relevant pathways for a more integrated and sustainable regional framework.
The seminar, attended by defence experts, former diplomats, and academics, examined how the Bay of Bengal is evolving from a traditionally commercial maritime space into a contested geopolitical theatre shaped by shifting power dynamics, fragile supply chains, and intensifying competition over sea lanes.
In his inaugural address, Vice Admiral Pradeep Chauhan, who leads the National Maritime Foundation, cautioned against narrow interpretations of maritime geopolitics and urged a more integrated analytical approach to the region. “India itself is relatively understudied from a maritime lens,” he said, arguing that geopolitical analysis must move beyond compartmentalised thinking. “Geopolitics is actually the amalgamation of each of these elements,” he added, referring to history, intent, capability, and geography as interconnected forces shaping maritime outcomes.
He also issued a broader warning about intellectual complacency in strategic thinking. “History will forgive us for many things. But one thing history will not forgive us for is failures of imagination,” he said, underlining the need for longterm strategic foresight in India’s maritime policy.
Delivering a more interpretive perspective, author and academic Prof. Hindol Sengupta described the Bay of Bengal as both a lived and historical space, deeply embedded in the region’s civilisational and economic evolution. “The personal is the historical and the historical is the geopolitical,” he said, drawing attention to the intertwined nature of identity, commerce, and geography in shaping the region’s maritime importance.
He also pointed to rising instability in the region, noting, “There is a hungry tide in these waters today,” a reference to increasing geopolitical competition and strategic uncertainty in the Bay.
Former Minister of State for External Affairs M. J. Akbar, delivering the keynote address, framed maritime competition as central to global instability. He described the current geopolitical environment as “the war of the five seas searching for a sixth,” suggesting an expanding and interconnected theatre of maritime contestation.
He emphasised the invisible yet decisive role of sea lanes in sustaining global order. “Nobody sees the seas,” he said, highlighting how maritime infrastructure and shipping routes remain underappreciated despite their critical importance to global trade and security.
Warning about strategic chokepoints, he said disruptions in one region could quickly cascade across others. “The shadow of Hormuz is already on Malacca,” he cautioned, adding that weakening global norms could ultimately lead to “international anarchy.”
At a separate maritime dialogue on regional cooperation, former diplomat Riva Ganguly Das emphasised the dual nature of the Bay of Bengal as both an economic lifeline and a contested geopolitical space.
“The Bay of Bengal has long been viewed as a vital socio-economic hub, heavily dependent on maritime trade, fishing, and offshore resources,” she said, noting that despite its economic importance, “intense geopolitical rivalry” remains a persistent feature of the region.
She highlighted India’s strategic approach through initiatives such as SAGAR and MAHASAGAR, describing them as efforts to position the Bay “as a zone of cooperation rather than conflict.”
Rear Admiral Mukul Asthana noted that the Bay has transformed significantly in recent years. “The Bay of Bengal is the world’s largest bay… and nearly 25 percent of Indian trade passes through it,” he said, adding that it is “becoming very competitive and contested” due to both traditional and non-traditional security threats.
He stressed that maritime activity in the region has increased substantially, turning what was once a relatively quiet water body into a highly active strategic theatre.
In the policy and infrastructure-focused session, former Principal Economic Adviser, MoCI, Rupa Dutta outlined the scale of regional infrastructure ambitions under the Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation framework. She noted that the connectivity plan includes 267 projects worth approximately USD 124 billion but warned that structural inefficiencies remain.
“Intra-regional trade remains low at around 6 percent,” she said, adding that “new roads and railways risk becoming underutilised assets unless we have back-end support.” She called for “unified technical standards, interoperable logistics systems, and coordinated border management frameworks,” stressing the importance of regulatory harmonisation and digital trade facilitation.
Former Chairman of the National Shipping Board Sanjeev Ramchand focused on the resilience of global supply chains amid geopolitical disruptions. “The supply chain order is a big question mark for large corporations,” he said, warning that global volatility has exposed vulnerabilities in maritime trade systems.
He urged BIMSTEC countries to move beyond policy declarations toward implementation. “It is time we give a timeline to all that,” he said, calling for measurable progress in regional connectivity initiatives.
The seminar concluded with a broad consensus that while the Bay of Bengal is gaining unprecedented strategic and economic importance, regional frameworks must now evolve from conceptual planning to operational integration. Participants agreed that the future stability of the region will depend on strengthening maritime governance, improving infrastructure interoperability, and building resilient supply chains across littoral states.
