Prime Minister Narendra Modi will take part in the 26th Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) Summit to be held in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan, from 31 August to 1 September.
In this context, it is necessary to consider the future of SCO and the role India is likely to play. The expectation is that the SCO will transition from a border-security alliance into a massive multipolar Eurasian platform focused on geo-economics, infrastructure integration, and structured crisis management. Concurrently, India’s role is that of a “swing power” and stabiliser—balancing its growing Western partnerships (like the Quad) while using the SCO to protect its strategic depth, advance energy security, and keep communication channels open with geopolitical rivals.
The SCO has scaled up to 10 permanent members (recently absorbing Iran and Belarus) alongside 15 dialogue partners. It now commands over 40% of the world’s population. The group is moving away from being just a “talking shop” by advancing plans for a dedicated SCO Development Bank and unified regional energy cooperation frameworks. Driven by China and Russia, the bloc is explicitly positioning itself to counter Western-dominated economic sanctions and supply chains. Rather than operating as a cohesive military alliance, its primary utility is providing a structured forum for nuclear-armed states with intense friction (India-China, India-Pakistan) to de-escalate conflicts through systematic dialogue.
India has shifted from a reactive member to an assertive stakeholder driving concrete regional agendas. India leverages the SCO’s security apparatus to strictly hold member states accountable to the core objective of dismantling terrorism, separatism, and extremism. It utilises the Tashkent-based Regional Anti-Terrorist Structure (RATS) to share intelligence, track regional terror financing, and monitor security shifts in Afghanistan.
Central Asia holds critical reserves of uranium, oil, natural gas, and essential minerals vital for India’s future energy demands. Therefore, India champions connectivity corridors like the International North–South Transport Corridor (INSTC) to link Mumbai to Eurasia. It acts as a check against China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), constantly reinforcing that mega-infrastructure projects must strictly respect territorial integrity. India’s presence prevents the SCO from morphing into a completely anti-Western coalition. It allows New Delhi to maintain deep security ties with the US while keeping a “special and privileged” strategic dialogue alive with Russia.
Forums like the SCO summits, therefore, provide critical neutral ground for high-level bilateral diplomacy, facilitating milestones like the recent India-China border disengagement consensus. If the forum progresses as it should, there are possibilities for an alternative to the West dominated global structure of today.
