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OPINION MAY 15, 2026 | The Indian Eye 10

INMSS-2026: What India’s

New Maritime Strategy Means

NMSS-2026 reflects a progressive maturation in India’s public naval strategic thought,
marked by greater conceptual refinement, clearer strategic structuring, and closer alignment

between doctrine and contemporary operational realities

ABHAY KUMAR SINGH & R. VIGNESH

he release of the Indian Navy
Maritime Security Strategy
T2026 (INMSS-2026) marks
the third public articulation of In-
dia’s naval strategy in less than two
decades, following Freedom to Use
the Seas (2007) and Ensuring Secure
Seas (2015). These documents are
more than declaratory texts. They re-
veal how the Indian Navy interprets
changes in the strategic environment, Source: IDSA
defines its institutional role, and
seeks to align operational priorities
with national objectives. Taken to- dian Maritime Doctrine 2025 (IMD- trust and responsiveness rather than role while signalling its claim to re-
gether, they trace the evolution of In- 25) refreshed the Navy’s conceptual hierarchical provision. In diplomatic main the lead instrument in maritime
dia’s maritime strategic thought. vocabulary for a more contested era. terms, this language is better aligned operations.
INMSS-2026 also follows close- INMSS-2026 builds on that founda- with contemporary regional sensitiv- Taken together, these changes
ly on the publication of the Indian tion by linking doctrine more explicit- ities and India’s preference for con- indicate not a doctrinal rupture, but
Maritime Doctrine 2025 (IMD-25), ly to strategic objectives, instruments sultative leadership. a progressive refinement of Indian
the Navy’s principal doctrinal state- and constraints. Structured around The strategy also appears to naval strategy towards a more con-
ment. In our earlier assessment, we Ends, Threats, Means, Ways and strengthen the link between doc- tested, resource-conscious and politi-
argued that IMD-25 represented Risks, it adopts a more coherent stra- trinal slogans and broader political cally complex maritime environment.
a significant conceptual advance tegic grammar than its predecessors. frameworks. Earlier concerns about A recurring theme across India’s
through its recognition of ‘No War The inclusion of a dedicated chapter the limited treatment of SAGAR and three public maritime strategy docu-
No Peace’ (NWNP) conditions, on ‘Enablers’ and a concluding sec- MAHASAGAR are partly addressed ments is the steady expansion of geo-
multi-domain operations, and a tion on risk management is especial- by incorporating maritime cooper- graphic interest. What distinguishes
growing emphasis on jointness. At ly notable, as it acknowledges that ation, governance, outreach and re- INMSS-2026, however, is not merely
the same time, we noted unresolved strategic intent must be measured sponder roles into the wider strategy the widening of maritime horizons
questions regarding the operational against organisational capacity, re- to shape a favourable maritime en- but a more candid attempt to rec-
meaning of concepts such as ‘Pre- sources and operational uncertainty. vironment. While these frameworks oncile strategic ambition with finite
ferred Security Partner’ and ‘First The strategy refines India’s re- remain politically framed rather than means. Earlier documents tended ei-
Responder’, the limited treatment of gional security vocabulary and gives operational doctrines in themselves, ther to prioritise selected theatres or
SAGAR and MAHASAGAR, and greater practical meaning to con- INMSS-2026 gives them clearer stra- to broaden areas of concern without
the translation of doctrine into strat- cepts that appeared underdeveloped tegic expression than before. fully addressing the practical impli-
egy. INMSS-2026 can therefore be in IMD-25. The 2015 strategy prom- Finally, INMSS-2026 accords cations of reach, presence and com-
read, in part, as an institutional effort inently used the term ‘net security unusual prominence to the Indian mand responsibility. INMSS-2026
to address some of these open ques- provider’, while IMD-25 introduced Navy’s institutional identity by de- addresses this tension more explicitly.
tions through a more explicit strate- formulations such as ‘Preferred Se- scribing it as the ‘primary instrument In Freedom to Use the Seas
gic framework. curity Partner’ and ‘First Responder’ and principal manifestation of In- (2007), India’s maritime geography
The most significant contribu- without fully elaborating their opera- dia’s maritime power’. Earlier docu- was viewed primarily through an
tion of INMSS-2026 lies not in a tional content. INMSS-2026 advanc- ments used related formulations, but Indian Ocean lens. The strategy em-
wholesale break from earlier strat- es these ideas by embedding them the combined phrasing is more delib- phasised the Arabian Sea, the Bay of
egy documents, but in the clearer within specific sub-strategies centred erate and appears intended to reaf- Bengal, critical chokepoints, island
articulation and operational transla- on cooperative security initiatives, firm naval centrality amid expanding territories, and selected extra-re-
tion of concepts that had previously capacity building, rapid assistance jointness, theatre command debates gional spaces linked to trade, energy,
appeared in partial, declaratory or and operational support in times of and multi-domain integration. The or contingency operations. Its orien-
doctrinal form. The 2007 and 2015 need. The shift from ‘provider’ to formulation, therefore, carries both tation was outward-looking, yet still
strategies reflected the demands of ‘partner’ is subtle but meaningful: it strategic and bureaucratic signifi- anchored in a hierarchy of focused
their respective moments, while In- places greater emphasis on consent, cance: it defines the Navy’s external Continued on next page... >>

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