Groupings, treaties, chokepoints and doctrines behind India's foreign policy news. 561 concepts, each with its definition, key details and a timeline of every news story that touched it.
The New Development Bank, popularly called the 'BRICS Bank,' was established by the 2014 Fortaleza Declaration and became operational in 2016. It is...
Rare earth elements (REEs) are a group of 17 metals (17 lanthanides + scandium and yttrium) essential for permanent magnets (used in EV motors, wind...
India has a long and expanding tradition of mounting large-scale evacuation operations to bring citizens home from conflict zones. These operations have...
A Central Bank Digital Currency, or CBDC, is money issued by a country's central bank in digital form. In India, it is called the digital rupee or e₹, and...
The Ganges Water Treaty is an agreement between India and Bangladesh on how to share the water of the river Ganga (called the Ganges in English and the...
India is the world's third-largest oil importer and consumer. Approximately 85% of India's crude oil requirements are met through imports, with Gulf...
India and France established their first formal strategic partnership in January 1998, making France the first country with which India entered such an...
The India-US Civil Nuclear Agreement is a 2008 deal that allows the United States and India to trade in nuclear fuel, reactors and technology for peaceful...
The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) is the world's main body for the peaceful use of nuclear energy. It has two big jobs. It helps countries use...
India's economic relationship with West Asia extends well beyond oil. The region is a major destination for Indian exports (rice, textiles, engineering...
Iran has built an extensive network of allied non-state armed actors — collectively described as the 'Axis of Resistance' — as a strategic hedge against its...
The Islamic Republic of Iran is founded on the political doctrine of Velayat-e Faqih (Guardianship of the Islamic Jurist), formulated by Ayatollah Ruhollah...
The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) was established on May 5, 1979, by order of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini following the Islamic Revolution, as a...
The 2026 Strait of Hormuz crisis began on 28 February 2026, when the US and Israel launched military operations against Iran, resulting in the closure of...
Free trade agreements such as the India-New Zealand FTA operate as a recognised exception to the WTO's Most-Favoured-Nation (MFN) principle, under which a...
NDCs are central to the Paris Agreement's bottom-up architecture, where each country sets its own climate targets and progressively ratchets them up.
The Asian Development Bank was established on 19 December 1966, following a United Nations initiative to accelerate economic growth and cooperation in Asia....
India's approach to the Russia-Ukraine conflict exemplifies its multi-alignment strategy — maintaining strategic relationships with competing power blocs...
India imports over 85% of its crude oil requirement, making it highly sensitive to global crude price movements. The impact of oil price increases passes...
Pakistan's role as co-mediator (along with Qatar) in brokering the US-Iran MoU represents a significant diplomatic moment. Pakistan occupies a complex...
India is one of the world's largest consumers of chemical fertilisers — essential for agricultural productivity. While India produces urea domestically...
India's FTA strategy has shifted from caution (withdrawal from RCEP in 2019) to selective bilateral engagement. By 2026, India has concluded or advanced...
India's oil imports from Russia surged dramatically after the 2022 Ukraine conflict, as Russia offered steep discounts on crude oil following Western...
International Humanitarian Law (IHL), also known as the laws of armed conflict or the law of war, is the body of international law that regulates the...
Local currency settlement means two countries pay each other for trade in their own currencies, instead of using a third currency like the US dollar. For...
A naval blockade is a military operation to prevent passage of vessels to or from an enemy's coastline or ports. Under the laws of naval warfare codified in...
A Bilateral Trade Agreement (BTA) is a broad trade pact negotiated between two countries covering goods, services, investments, and regulatory frameworks....
Force majeure ('superior force') is a contractual clause that excuses a party from fulfilling its contractual obligations due to extraordinary events or...
India's export strategy is managed through the Ministry of Commerce, supported by the Directorate General of Foreign Trade (DGFT) and a range of...
The South Pars–North Dome gas field is the single largest natural gas field in the world, located offshore in the Persian Gulf. The field straddles the...
Critical minerals (lithium, cobalt, nickel, rare earth elements, and others) are essential inputs for clean energy technologies (batteries, EV motors, wind...
India's LPG supply chain is controlled by three public sector OMCs: IOC (Indian Oil Corporation), BPCL (Bharat Petroleum Corporation Ltd), and HPCL...
India's approach to Indian Ocean security rests on two key doctrinal visions. SAGAR (Security and Growth for All in the Region) was articulated by PM Modi...
The India-Australia Economic Cooperation and Trade Agreement, or ECTA, is a trade deal between India and Australia. It removes or cuts the import taxes...
Defence cooperation forms the most significant dimension of India-Israel relations. Israel is India's second-largest arms supplier after Russia. Cooperation...
The Indo-Pacific is a geopolitical and strategic construct encompassing the Indian Ocean and the Pacific Ocean as a single, interconnected strategic space....
News on India-China border management frequently uses terms that UPSC tests for precise distinction from India's other contested boundaries.
The National Monetisation Pipeline (NMP), announced in August 2021, is the Government of India's framework to unlock value from brownfield public...
The NPT, opened for signature in 1968 and entering into force in 1970, is the cornerstone of the global nuclear non-proliferation regime. It has 191 state...
The two-state solution is a proposal to end the Israel-Palestine conflict by creating two separate countries side by side: Israel and an independent State...
The Agreement on Subsidies and Countervailing Measures, usually called the SCM Agreement, is one of the World Trade Organization's core rulebooks. It...
Piped Natural Gas (PNG) for household use is supplied through City Gas Distribution (CGD) networks. The Petroleum and Natural Gas Regulatory Board (PNGRB)...
India assumed the BRICS Chairship in January 2026 under the theme 'Building for Resilience, Innovation, Cooperation and Sustainability' — with the acronym...
Faced with the volatility of the US market, India's trade policy has increasingly emphasised geographic diversification of export destinations. India has...
India's approach to trade negotiations has historically been characterised by calibrated, conditional engagement — securing domestic political economy...
Marine insurance is a critical enabler of global shipping. When insurers withdraw coverage or dramatically raise premiums, voyages become economically...
The Arctic Council is the main forum where the countries of the Arctic region work together. It has 8 member countries, all of which have land in the...
BRICS began as an informal grouping (BRIC) of Brazil, Russia, India and China in 2009, with South Africa joining in 2010 to form BRICS. It has since evolved...
A CEPA is a broader form of free trade agreement that covers not just goods but also services, investments, intellectual property, and regulatory...
The Current Account Deficit (CAD) measures the gap between a country's total imports of goods, services, and transfers and its total exports. A high CAD...
The MEA is India's apex body for managing foreign policy and protecting Indian citizens overseas. Through its network of missions, embassies, and...
Article 51 preserves the 'inherent right' of individual or collective self-defence if an armed attack occurs against a UN member state, until the Security...
The Black Sea Grain Initiative was a deal that let Ukraine export grain, other food and fertiliser by sea during the Russia-Ukraine war. It was agreed in...
India has approximately 8.9 million nationals in Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries — the largest concentration of the Indian diaspora anywhere in the...
The Indian diaspora in West Asia — numbering approximately 9 million across the GCC states (UAE: 4.3 million, Saudi Arabia: 2.65 million, Kuwait: 1 million...
Iran maintains a doctrine of asymmetric deterrence, employing ballistic missiles, drone swarms, and proxy forces as strategic tools. Iran's ballistic...
Myanmar, India's eastern neighbour, has been in a civil war since its army seized power in a coup on 1 February 2021. On one side is Myanmar's military...
OPEC (Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries), founded in 1960 in Baghdad, is a cartel of oil-producing nations that coordinate production levels...
The South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation, or SAARC, is a regional group of eight South Asian countries: Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India...
The Strait of Hormuz is a 33-km-wide (at its narrowest) waterway between Iran (to the north) and Oman/UAE (to the south), connecting the Persian Gulf to the...