Neighborhood First is the operating principle that India's relations with its immediate South Asian neighbors—Bangladesh, Bhutan, Maldives, Nepal, Sri Lanka, and (intermittently) Afghanistan and Pakistan—receive priority attention in diplomacy, development assistance, connectivity, and security cooperation. The phrase gained currency after Prime Minister Narendra Modi invited SAARC heads of state and government to his swearing-in ceremony in May 2014, a symbolic opening gesture that the Ministry of External Affairs subsequently institutionalized as policy vocabulary.
The doctrine has several recurring components:
- Asymmetric generosity: India typically does not demand strict reciprocity from smaller neighbors, extending lines of credit, grants, and duty-free market access.
- Connectivity: Cross-border rail, road, waterway, electricity, and fuel pipeline projects, such as the Motihari–Amlekhgunj petroleum pipeline to Nepal (commissioned 2019) and electricity trade with Bangladesh and Bhutan.
- Capacity building and HADR: Indian responses to the 2015 Nepal earthquake (Operation Maitri), the 2020–22 COVID-19 vaccine supplies under "Vaccine Maitri," and the 2022 economic rescue package to Sri Lanka (roughly USD 4 billion in credit, fuel, and currency support).
- People-to-people ties: Visa liberalization, scholarships, and cultural diplomacy.
The policy is partly a response to the growing presence of China in South Asia through Belt and Road Initiative projects, the Hambantota port lease (2017), and infrastructure financing in Nepal and the Maldives. Critics note recurring frictions—the 2015 Madhesi blockade on the India–Nepal border, the "India Out" campaign in the Maldives under President Mohamed Muizzu from 2023, and unresolved water-sharing disputes with Bangladesh over the Teesta—that complicate the narrative of benign primacy. Neighborhood First is often discussed alongside complementary frames such as Act East, SAGAR (Security and Growth for All in the Region), and the Indian Ocean Region doctrine, which extend the same logic to the maritime periphery.
Example
In January 2022, India extended a USD 1 billion credit line to Sri Lanka under its Neighborhood First policy to help Colombo import essential goods during its foreign-exchange crisis.
Frequently asked questions
The phrase entered mainstream usage after May 2014, when PM Modi invited SAARC leaders to his swearing-in, though elements of neighbor-centric diplomacy predate it, including the 1996 Gujral Doctrine.
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