As the world enters a new year, it is becoming increasingly clear that South Asia’s existing models of regional cooperation are no longer fit for purpose. Institutions such as South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) – and even The Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation (BIMSTEC, an association of seven countries in the littoral and adjacent areas of the Bay of Bengal) – were products of a different geopolitical moment, one defined by relatively stable multilateralism, predictable great-power leadership, and modest regional ambitions. That world has now decisively ended.
The year 2025 will likely be remembered as a turning point. Through a series of disruptive policy choices – most notably the sweeping so-called ‘Liberation Day’ tariffs announced on April 2 – the US signalled its willingness to consciously dismantle key elements of the post-war international economic order that it had itself built and led. That order, despite its flaws, enabled unprecedented global prosperity, lifting hundreds of millions out of poverty both within and beyond the US. Its unravelling marks not merely a tactical shift, but a structural transformation of global politics and economics.
What is emerging in its place is a genuinely multipolar world. Power, production, innovation, and influence are no longer concentrated along a single axis. In this new configuration, India stands out not simply as a large country, but as a pivotal pole – economically, technologically, politically, and civilisationally.
India’s influence today extends well beyond South Asia. Its economic gravity increasingly shapes outcomes across West Asia, Africa, the Indo-Pacific, and parts of Europe. Few countries enjoy India’s unique strategic positioning, deep historical and civilisational ties across regions, strong relations with the West, enduring engagement with Russia, and credibility across the Global South. Ancient trade routes, religious linkages, and shared cultural memory now intersect with modern supply chains, digital networks, and energy corridors, creating an Indian footprint far wider than traditional regional maps suggest.
As India enters a phase of accelerated growth, its capacity to uplift not only South Asia but a much broader neighbourhood will expand correspondingly. This reality exposes the limitations of existing regional institutions. SAARC, constrained by political gridlock and a narrow geographic imagination, has long ceased to function as an effective vehicle for regional integration. BIMSTEC, while more functional and forward-looking, remains restricted in scope and ambition. Both reflect an older era – one in which India was a regional power among others, rather than a central node linking multiple overlapping regions.
The coming year will only reinforce the need for rethinking. The disruption witnessed in 2025 will not subside in 2026; instead, the transition to a multipolar world is likely to accelerate. Long-standing multilateral institutions, regional arrangements, and even bilateral understandings will come under growing pressure – some to be reformed, others bypassed or rendered irrelevant.
Technology will be a major driver of this transformation. Artificial intelligence is already reshaping economies, governance, warfare, and social structures at a pace unmatched by previous industrial revolutions. Energy systems, too, are entering a period of radical change – from green hydrogen to nuclear fusion to advanced grids and storage technologies. Here again, India is not merely a participant but a catalyst, shaping markets, standards, and innovation pathways.
In parallel, the global economy is reorganising itself around the idea of ‘trustworthy supply chains’. Reliability, resilience, and political alignment now matter as much as cost efficiency. In this environment, India’s scale, democratic institutions, manufacturing ambitions, and strategic autonomy position it as a critical anchor in global supply networks.
In parallel, the global economy is reorganising itself around the idea of ‘trustworthy supply chains’. Reliability, resilience, and political alignment now matter as much as cost efficiency. In this environment, India’s scale, democratic institutions, manufacturing ambitions, and strategic autonomy position it as a critical anchor in global supply networks.
Major initiatives already point in this direction. The India-Middle East-Europe Economic Corridor represents more than a connectivity project; it is a template for a new form of trans-regional cooperation linking South Asia to Europe through West Asia. Similarly, the proposed India-EU free trade agreement, alongside India’s expanding network of trade and investment partnerships, has the potential to generate spillover benefits for neighbouring South Asian economies – provided the region is imaginatively integrated into these frameworks.
As India’s connectivity with the world deepens -across transport, energy, digital infrastructure, and finance – the positive externalities for South Asia will grow. But these benefits cannot be fully realised within the rigid institutional boundaries of SAARC or BIMSTEC. What is needed instead is a broader, more flexible cooperation framework – one that reflects India’s real economic and strategic geography rather than inherited cartography.
There is little doubt that the US and Europe will spend the coming period reassessing their global roles and institutional architectures. India should do the same. Rather than investing political capital in reviving outdated structures, New Delhi should begin articulating a new cooperation forum – one that transcends South Asia while remaining anchored in it. Such a platform could incorporate parts of West Asia, Africa, and the Indo-Pacific, organised around practical cooperation in trade, energy, technology, connectivity, standards and culture rather than ideological alignment.
This would not be an exercise in exclusion, nor an attempt to replace existing institutions overnight. Instead, it would represent a new paradigm – aligned with the realities of a multipolar world and India’s emerging responsibilities within it.
The year 2026 should therefore be seen not merely as another year of adjustment, but as a moment to lay the foundations of this new vision. If India is to shape, rather than merely adapt to, the evolving global order, it must begin by reimagining the very idea of ‘region’ itself.
(The writer is a former Sri Lankan cabinet minister and diplomat, and founder of the Sri Lankan strategic affairs think tank, Pathfinder Foundation, can be contacted via [email protected] -Courtesy Hindustan Times 2026.01.01)