Multipolar Eurasia? Here is why India sticks with the SCO

India’s commitment to the bloc highlights its strategy for maintaining influence in Eurasia despite connectivity challenges Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi will be attending the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) summit in Bishkek starting Sunday as the bloc enters its 25th year in 2026.

It marks a significant milestone for an institution that has evolved from a narrowly defined regional security grouping into one of the important multilateral platforms across Eurasia.

Established in 2001 by China, Russia and four Central Asian states (Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan), the SCO was initially driven by concerns regarding ‘Three Evils’ – terrorism, separatism and extremism.

However, its agenda later expanded to encompass trade, connectivity, energy, development, digital cooperation and people-to-people exchanges.

Its geographical and political weight has also increased substantially, particularly following the admission of India and Pakistan as full members in 2017 and the subsequent inclusion of Iran and Belarus.

The 25-year milestone, therefore, provides an opportunity to assess the SCO not merely in terms of its institutional longevity, but from the perspective of India’s evolving Eurasian strategy.

From observer to member When the SCO was just established, India was an outsider to the organization and New Delhi initially viewed the emerging Eurasian grouping from the margins.

However, in early 2000s, India was increasingly concerned about terrorism, the Afghanistan crisis, energy security, Eurasian connectivity and engagement with the newly independent Central Asian republics.

Read more Here is India’s answer to a broken world order India subsequently moved from cautious distance to institutional engagement with the SCO.

India, Iran and Pakistan were given observer status at the 2005 Astana Summit.

In 2005, Indian External Affairs Minister Natwar Singh framed India’s interests in the SCO as anti-terrorism efforts, greater economic cooperation and people-to-people contacts like the ancient Silk Route era, while also emphasizing a shared Asian identity.

Later, India formally applied for full SCO membership in 2014 and was admitted in 2017.

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, while speaking at the 2017 SCO Summit, highlighted that the fight against terrorism, climate change, connectivity, peace, and stability in Afghanistan were India’s priorities within the SCO.

The fact that both of India’s two major milestones in the SCO, observer status in 2005 and full membership in 2017 were formalized at Astana summits does provide an interesting indicator of the special place Kazakhstan occupies in India’s SCO journey, which has been symbolically significant and diplomatically supportive.