By aligning infrastructure development, digital connectivity, and regional diplomacy, Northeast India can anchor India’s eastern trade and connectivity ambitions in the Indo-Pacific
Northeast India, historically viewed as a frontier region, is increasingly emerging as a strategic pivot in India’s Indo-Pacific engagement. With its proximity to key Southeast Asian economies, rich resource base, and evolving trade corridors, the Northeast is positioned to facilitate greater regional integration. It holds distinct geostrategic and economic significance for India’s regional diplomacy and trade ambitions, given that it borders five countries—Bangladesh, Bhutan, Nepal, China, and Myanmar—thus forming a natural corridor linking South Asia with Southeast Asia. It is also in proximity to the Bay of Bengal, a maritime space that hosts some of the world’s most critical trade routes.
Despite this potential, decades of underinvestment, conflict, and institutional neglect have kept the region economically marginalised. India’s Act East Policy, launched in 2014, signalled a strategic commitment to unlock the Northeast’s potential through infrastructure, diplomacy, and investment. A decade has passed since then, and it is now necessary to examine Northeast India’s potential within India’s Indo-Pacific framework and outline the policy imperatives to unlock its role as a driver of growth, connectivity, and cooperation.
Multimodal infrastructure is crucial for integrating the Northeast with both national markets and regional supply chains. Several strategic projects serve this purpose, including the Kaladan Multi-modal Transit Transport Project connecting Mizoram to Myanmar’s Sittwe Port, enhancingaccess to Southeast Asia; the India-Myanmar-Thailand Trilateral Highway offering access to Thailand, Cambodia, and Vietnam; the Agartala-Akhaura railway project, enhancing India-Bangladesh trade; alongsideLand Customs Stations (LCS) upgrades in Tripura to facilitate freight movement; the Inland Waterways through the Brahmaputra and Barak rivers offering cost-effective transport, which require modernisation; and projects like Dimapur-Zubza, Imphal-Moreh and NH-37, enabling integration of remote regions.
To ensure long-term viability, future investments must embed climate-proofing, slope-stabilisation engineering, flood-resilient designs, and ESG-linked safeguards.
The Northeast’s topography and climatic conditions require infrastructure that is disaster-resilient and climate-adaptive. Many of the proposed multimodal and connectivity projects, including roads, rail, and inland waterways, traverse regions characterised by fragile hills and floodplains, with high seismic activity, making them particularly vulnerable to landslides, floods, and earthquakes. For instance, the Kaladan project and the NH-37 corridor face recurrent monsoon disruptions, while stretches along the Brahmaputra and Barak rivers require embankment protection and channel stabilisation. To ensure long-term viability, future investments must embed climate-proofing, slope-stabilisation engineering, flood-resilient designs, and ESG-linked safeguards. Redundancy in trade routes must also be ensured to reduce vulnerability to disruptions.
However, even the best infrastructure fails if institutions are inefficient. Upgrades to border customs and port processes are essential for seamless trade connectivity. This can be achieved by: improving Land Customs Stations (LCS) with digital clearance, EDI systems, and warehousing; harmonising Sanitary and Phytosanitary (SPS) and Technical Barriers to Trade (TBT) standards with neighbours; implementing trusted trader programmes and single-window clearance; and training local agencies while enhancing coordination between central and state bodies to ensure seamless border trade.
The Northeast has made substantial progress in expanding digital connectivity, though deep gaps remain. As of 2025, about 42,000 of the region’s roughly 46,000 villages have mobile coverage, and nearly 41,000 have 4G access under the ongoing BharatNet and Universal Service Obligation Fund (USOF) programmes. However, broadband penetration and average internet speeds lag behind the national mean, and several hill districts and border blocks continue to face network instability and low digital literacy. These asymmetries mean that while the backbone exists, equitable participation in digital commerce, e-governance, and financial inclusion remains constrained.
The extension of India’s Digital Public Infrastructure (DPI) in the Northeast can help bridge gaps through platforms such as UPI, DigiLocker, Aadhaar, and the Open Network for Digital Commerce (ONDC), all of which should be scaled across states to support financial and service inclusion.
Digital connectivity is increasingly vital for economic inclusion, service delivery, and integration into national and regional digital economies. The extension of India’s Digital Public Infrastructure (DPI) in the Northeast can help bridge gaps through platforms such as UPI, DigiLocker, Aadhaar, and the Open Network for Digital Commerce (ONDC), all of which should be scaled across states to support financial and service inclusion. State-supported e-commerce platforms linked to ONDC can empower Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) and artisans, particularly women-led enterprises. Investments in Tier-2 data centres in states like Assam and Tripura can anchor cloud services and support secure governance, while AI-skilling hubs focused on Agri-tech, language technologies, and Edtech can enhance local innovation capacity.
Despite its immense natural and cultural wealth, the Northeast continues to face one of India’s lowest per-capita income levels and limited industrialisation. Agriculture and allied activities employ a majority of the population, yet productivity remains low due to small landholdings, poor connectivity, and weak value chains. Projects such as the North East Rural Livelihood Project (NERLP) and the North East Special Infrastructure Development Scheme (NESIDS) have improved rural credit, empowered women’s SHGs, and facilitated microenterprise formation, but large sections of rural and border communities remain disconnected from formal markets. Integrating livelihoods with corridor development is therefore essential to convert connectivity into tangible income growth.
Corridor-based development should integrate agro-processing zones and logistics parks aligned with regional products, such as bamboo, tea, and horticulture, as well as tribal-owned microenterprises and handloom clusters, supported by DPI-enabled commerce, tourism, and culture hubs.
Infrastructure must translate into livelihoods. Corridor-based development should integrate agro-processing zones and logistics parks aligned with regional products, such as bamboo, tea, and horticulture, as well as tribal-owned microenterprises and handloom clusters, supported by DPI-enabled commerce, tourism, and culture hubs. This approach aims to leverage the region’s natural and cultural capital. Additionally, the integration of skilling, procurement, and ecological safeguards is crucial to ensure inclusive development.
Trade corridors require stable diplomatic ecosystems. India should strengthen multilateral platforms, notably the Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation (BIMSTEC), as well as groupings such as the Bangladesh-Bhutan India-Nepal (BBIN), focusing on practical cooperation in transport, power, trade, and digital commerce. Bilateral cooperation with Bangladesh and Myanmar should include institutional dialogues on corridor management. India’s external partnerships with Japan and the US should be leveraged for technology, finance, and capacity building without diluting domestic ownership. With targeted investments in infrastructure, digital inclusion, and diplomacy, the Northeast can evolve into a hub of regional commerce and cooperation.
India should strengthen multilateral platforms, notably the Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation (BIMSTEC), as well as groupings such as the Bangladesh-Bhutan India-Nepal (BBIN), focusing on practical cooperation in transport, power, trade, and digital commerce.
Building a future-ready Northeast requires targeted initiatives across infrastructure, digital networks, and community empowerment. Steps should be taken to align physical logistics, digital infrastructure, and economic corridor planning to enable inclusive growth across border towns and underserved rural belts. Local communities must be empowered through targeted skilling programmes, enterprise ownership models, and robust social safeguards. It is imperative to encourage leading industry associations, including the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce & Industry (FICCI), the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII), and the National Association of Software and Service Companies (NASSCOM), to establish Northeast chapters that can drive B2B linkages and promote regional enterprise clusters. The need of the hour is to establish AI-ready Tier-2 data centres and regional technology hubs to develop future-focused digital and AI capabilities and lay the groundwork for robust employment ecosystems. Moreover, state governments must support incubation hubs and mentoring networks to scale startups across priority sectors. Together, these initiatives can transform Northeast India into a resilient, inclusive, and strategically connected hub, realising its full potential within India’s Indo-Pacific vision.
Tridib Bhattacharjee is Founder and Chief Advisor at Astramind Consulting.
The views expressed above belong to the author(s). ORF research and analyses now available on Telegram! Click here to access our curated content — blogs, longforms and interviews.
Tridib Bhattacharjee is Founder and Chief Advisor at Astramind Consulting, where he works on leadership and digital transformation for organisations navigating the AI era. With ...
Read More +
PREV
