Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi has renewed his engagement with the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO), attending this week’s 26th SCO summit in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan. Modi’s presence marks a notable shift from two years ago when he skipped the summit entirely, sending his foreign minister instead. His attendance follows last year’s summit in Tianjin, where he also appeared, signaling a gradual revival of India’s participation in the 10-member Eurasian bloc.
Founded in 2001 by China, Russia, and several Central Asian states, the SCO initially aimed to promote regional security cooperation. Over time, it expanded to include Pakistan, Iran, and Belarus, with other countries as observers and partners. India joined the organisation in 2017, but its relationship with the SCO has been complicated by the bloc’s dominant members—China and Russia—and by the presence of Pakistan, a longtime rival of New Delhi.
Modi’s visit to Bishkek on Sunday and his expected address at the two-day summit, which ended Tuesday, focused on themes of regional stability, counterterrorism, and economic cooperation. Analysts suggest India's renewed engagement with the SCO reflects a strategic effort to balance growing uncertainty in its relationship with the United States while seeking to counter China’s influence within the bloc.
Chietigi Bajpaee, a South Asia expert at Chatham House, noted that New Delhi’s recent support for the SCO may be linked to Beijing’s backing of India’s 2024 BRICS chairmanship, with the next BRICS summit scheduled in Delhi for mid-September. This aligns with a broader trend of gradual rapprochement between China and India, as seen in new military communication lines, resumed direct flights, and eased visa policies following their 2020 border clashes.
Political scientist Ivan Lidarev of the National University of Singapore described India’s continued membership as crucial to preventing the SCO from evolving into a primarily Chinese sphere of influence in Eurasia. He suggested that both China and Russia view the SCO as a mechanism to keep India engaged regionally and to manage its closer ties with Washington.
Modi’s participation in Bishkek also appears intended to facilitate Chinese President Xi Jinping’s attendance at the upcoming BRICS summit in Delhi. Xi’s absence would be seen as a setback to recent efforts at improving China-India relations and could complicate next year’s China-hosted BRICS meeting.
However, some experts question the long-term benefits of SCO membership for India. Shanthie Mariet D’Souza of the Mantraya Institute in Goa pointed to China’s increasing dominance and the bloc’s consensus-driven structure as limiting India's influence on key issues such as terrorism and regional tensions. She characterized India’s SCO role as largely tactical—providing a platform to voice concerns while preventing the organisation from becoming an exclusively China-Russia partnership.
Ahead of the SCO summit, Modi completed a two-day state visit to Uzbekistan, where he met President Shavkat Mirziyoyev and upgraded bilateral relations to a comprehensive strategic partnership. This visit underscores India’s broader “Look West and Look North” policy, aimed at expanding its strategic outreach across Central Asia, according to Balaji Chandramohan, a research scholar at the University of Madras.
Modi’s increased visibility at the SCO and in Central Asia signals a calculated balancing act amid shifting geopolitical currents, as India seeks to maintain a multi-vector foreign policy while asserting its regional interests.