India needs a permanent strategic presence in Seychelles

The blue-water Indian Navy should be the spearhead of India’s engagement with Seychelles. More so because this small archipelago sits at the strategic hinge of the southern Indian Ocean.

With INS Tarkash and INS Ikshak now docked at Port Victoria for Seychelles’ Golden Jubilee celebrations, while Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit is underway, the symbolism underscores that maritime geography still shapes power.

India’s case in Seychelles is sentimental; it is strategic, commercial and civilisational all at once. A permanent Indian naval presence on the island is what will cement this into an alliance and should be explored forthwith.

For both countries, it would be an insurance policy: against piracy, illicit trafficking, illegal fishing and the slow erosion of order in a sea lane that matters to Asia, Africa and the wider world. If India wants to be a net provider of security in the Indian Ocean, it must think not only in terms of patrols and port calls, but of durable basing, logistics and maintenance arrangements that let maritime power endure rather than merely appear.

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The maritime argument

Seychelles is not a distant ornament on India’s diplomatic map. It is a forward post in the western Indian Ocean, close to shipping lanes that carry commerce, energy and strategic anxiety.

What PM Modi’s visit left unsaid is that the Indian Ocean rewards those who think in decades, not news cycles. Seychelles needs maritime security, capacity building and connectivity; India needs reach, resilience and trusted partners near the ocean’s chokepoints. A permanent Indian naval base need not be framed as dominance. Properly designed, and explained to the fractured opposition parties on the island, it could be a shared facility that supports and strengthens Seychelles while remaining sensitive to Seychelles’ sovereignty and domestic politics. That is how hard power becomes acceptable: by serving public goods.

Trade and growth

The economic relationship is still too small for the ambitions both sides profess. Official figures for 2024 show India’s exports to Seychelles at about $91.73 million and Seychelles’ exports to India at about $2.46 million. However, one slices the numbers, the pattern is clear: India is already a major commercial source for Seychelles, but the relationship remains narrow, under-structured and lopsided. PM Modi’s visit is thus an argument for scale.

The obvious growth areas are fisheries and food processing, along with shipping, cold-chain logistics and related services. Seychelles’ economy is built around the sea, and its seafood value chains are a natural opening for Indian firms with strengths in processing, packaging, storage, equipment and market access. If India can help develop landing, processing and export capacity on the islands, the payoff would be more than commercial. It would deepen food security, create jobs and reduce dependence on long, fragile supply chains. In a small island economy, even modest industrial capacity has outsized strategic value.

Human connections

Seychelles has deep Indian roots, with a substantial Indo-Seychellois community and long-standing cultural links that have shaped commerce, religion and social life. The country’s plural identity is a reminder that Indian influence in the Indian Ocean has historically travelled not only through ships and treaties, but through families, workers, traders, temples and everyday habit. That human layer matters because it gives the relationship a legitimacy that no amount of strategic language can manufacture.

These ethnic and cultural ties are useful, but they should not be romanticised as a substitute for policy. Diaspora affinity can lubricate diplomacy, yet the future will depend on investment, education, health cooperation and maritime infrastructure that makes life more secure and prosperous for Seychellois citizens. India’s advantage is that it can speak both the language of hard security and the language of development. Seychelles’ advantage is that it can turn that dual support into a stronger, more diversified economy.

The right bargain

Sceptics will argue that a permanent naval base is too bold for a small island state. That objection deserves respect. A base need not mean a fortress; it can mean a jointly managed facility with rotational deployments, transparent operating rules and clear benefits for local capacity. If India bears the costs of infrastructure, maintenance, training and emergency support, Seychelles gains resilience without surrendering agency. The key is to define permanence as reliability, not coercion. PM Modi’s visit will have deeper currency if India and Seychelles look to a bolder future with a shared strategic destiny.

(The writer is a senior journalist with expertise in defence. Views expressed are personal and do not necessarily reflect those of Firstpost.)