India and Seychelles Deepen Ties: What the MAHASAGAR Vision Means for the Indian Ocean

In late June 2026, Prime Minister Narendra Modi visited Seychelles on a three-day state visit, the first such visit in years. The trip was not just a diplomatic courtesy call — it marked exactly 50 years since India and Seychelles first established formal diplomatic ties, and it produced 19 concrete agreements spanning maritime security, digital payments, outer space cooperation, healthcare, and more. At the heart of the visit was a shared vision for how smaller island nations and larger powers like India can work together in the Indian Ocean.

Before diving into what was agreed, it helps to understand why Seychelles matters to India. Seychelles is a small archipelago made up of 115 islands in the western Indian Ocean. Its total population is only about 1.3 lakh people (roughly 130,000), making it one of the world's smallest nations. Yet its location is strategically important. It sits near critical Sea Lines of Communication, or SLOCs, the busy maritime routes through which a huge portion of global trade, including oil and goods, travels every day. Whoever can monitor and secure these waters holds enormous influence over regional stability.

India's broader framework for the Indian Ocean is called MAHASAGAR, which stands for Mutual and Holistic Advancement for Security and Growth Across Regions. PM Modi unveiled this doctrine in March 2025. Think of it as an upgrade to an earlier Indian policy called SAGAR — Security and Growth for All in the Region — which focused on India's immediate neighbourhood in the Indian Ocean. MAHASAGAR goes further: it takes a global outlook, positions India as a champion of the Global South, and adds issues like climate change, sustainable development, coastal resilience, and the blue economy to the security agenda.

Seychelles fits neatly into this framework. As a small island nation with limited resources, it cannot independently patrol its vast Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ), the area of ocean up to 200 nautical miles from its coast where it has special rights over natural resources. It faces real threats from piracy, illegal fishing, and drug trafficking. India has stepped in as a partner of choice, providing equipment and training. During the June 2026 visit, India handed over a Made-in-India Fast Patrol Vessel called PS LESPWAR, along with six ambulances, ten utility vehicles, and five laser radial boats to help Seychelles monitor its waters. These are practical, tangible contributions — not just diplomatic language.

Beyond defence, the agreements covered a wide range of areas. India and Seychelles signed an extradition treaty. They agreed to cooperate on the peaceful uses of outer space. India will introduce UPI (the Unified Payments Interface), India's homegrown digital payments system already widely used across India and in several other countries, in Seychelles, which will allow smartphone-based instant money transfers. India also extended an umbrella Line of Credit through the Export-Import Bank of India, or EXIM Bank, and committed to building a new national hospital.

Some of these deliverables were actually set in motion earlier. When Seychelles President Patrick Herminie visited India in February 2026, India had already announced a Special Economic Package worth $175 million for Seychelles, and supplied 1,000 metric tonnes of grains and lentils for food security. The two countries had also adopted something called the SESEL Joint Vision — standing for Joint Vision for Sustainability, Economic Growth and Security through Enhanced Linkages — which laid out the broad blueprint for the bilateral relationship going forward. The June visit was about translating that blueprint into action.

A notable diplomatic highlight was the honour given to PM Modi by President Herminie: the title 'Guardian of the Blue Horizon' — the first time this distinction was ever awarded — recognising Modi's commitment to environmental leadership, the blue economy, and support for Small Island Developing States. Seychelles is also one of six members of the Colombo Security Conclave, or CSC, a regional grouping that also includes Bangladesh, India, Maldives, Mauritius, and Sri Lanka, focused specifically on maritime security cooperation.

One unresolved thread in the relationship is the proposed project on Assumption Island, a remote island in the Seychelles archipelago. A naval infrastructure project there was first agreed in 2015 but was never built, shelved due to domestic opposition in Seychelles and environmental concerns. India's Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri made clear that India would be open to reviving this if Seychelles wished, but for now it remains on hold. Going forward, both countries will work to operationalise their 19 agreements, and India will continue using regional platforms like the Indian Ocean Rim Association, or IORA, a grouping of 23 countries around the Indian Ocean focused on trade and cooperation, and multilateral exercises like AIKEYME (a Sanskrit word meaning 'Unity'), a naval exercise held in April 2025 that brought India, Seychelles, and eight other Indian Ocean nations together and is planned to become a regular event.