India Asia Power Index 2025: India achieves major power status by securing 3rd position in Asia, reflecting economic growth, military strength, and strategic influence in the region.
India Rises to Third Position in Asia Power Index 2025
Introduction
In a significant development for India’s global standing, it has secured the third spot in the Asia Power Index 2025 — behind only United States and China — marking a major milestone in its journey toward becoming a leading Asian power. This improvement reflects gains across economic, military, and strategic dimensions.
What is the Asia Power Index?
The Asia Power Index is an annual report compiled by Lowy Institute, an Australia-based think tank. It assesses the power of 27 countries and territories across Asia — gauging their capacity to influence external environments. The assessment uses 131 indicators across eight thematic measures, including military strength, economic capacity, diplomatic and cultural influence, resilience, and future resources.
India’s Performance in 2025: Numbers & Rank
- In the 2025 edition, India achieved an overall score of 40.0 out of 100.
- This score marks an improvement — roughly a 2% rise compared to previous editions.
- As a result, India has been classified as a “major power” in Asia for the first time, having crossed the threshold defined by the Index for such status.
What Contributed to India’s Rise?
- Economic Capability & Future Resources: India ranked third in both economic capability and future resources. Its economy continues to grow strongly, and India’s youthful demographic and resource base add to its future potential
- Improved Economic Relationships: For the first time in recent editions, India climbed in the economic-relationships measure, rising to ninth place. This reflects growing inward investments and stronger global economic linkages.
- Military Capability & Strategic Influence: The report credits strengthened military capability and greater geopolitical relevance for India. Experts note that India’s performance in recent strategic military events — including Operation Sindoor (May 2025) — improved appraisals of its defence readiness and combat experience.
Areas of Weakness & Challenges
However, the rise hasn’t been across all parameters:
- The weakest area for India in 2025 remains defence networks, where it currently ranks 11th. The score in this measure even declined compared to previous editions, as countries such as the Philippines and Thailand overtook it
- The report also highlights a significant “power gap” — a divergence between India’s resource potential and actual influence. This suggests that despite its resources, India’s regional and global influence remains somewhat under-realized.
What This Means for India’s Regional & Global Role
India’s elevation to the third position and major-power status in the Asia Power Index 2025 is a testament to its growing economic resilience, military modernization, and rising geopolitical relevance. It underscores India’s position as a key influencer in Asia — capable of shaping political, economic, and security dynamics in the region. At the same time, the identified weaknesses caution that India must further bolster its defence networks and diplomatic reach to fully translate potential into influence.
Why This News is Important
Relevance for Civil Services and Other Government Exam Aspirants
For students preparing for competitive exams — whether for civil services, police, banking, railways, or defence — this news holds critical importance. Understanding the global ranking of India helps aspirants contextualize questions in General Awareness, International Relations, Geopolitics, and Economy. The rise in Asia Power Index 2025 reflects shifts in regional power dynamics, which can influence exam questions related to foreign policy, global alliances, defence strategy, and India’s standing in Asia.
Moreover, knowing about measures — economic capability, military strength, diplomatic influence — enriches answer writing and analytical essays for exams like UPSC Civil Services Examination, state PSCs, and similar competitive tests.
Strategic Implications for India & Its Neighbours
India’s improved standing signals its growing capacity to influence Asia’s geopolitical landscape. This can impact regional cooperation, security architecture, defence partnerships, trade negotiations, and diplomatic engagements. Such developments matter not only for policymakers but also for aspirants seeking government roles — particularly in defence, foreign service, and security-related positions — as they shape future recruitment, strategy, and public policy direction.
Historical Context
About the Asia Power Index & Its Evolution
The Asia Power Index, compiled by the Lowy Institute, has been a key barometer of comparative national power in Asia. Over years, it has provided data-driven and expert-evaluated insights into how countries fare across a broad range of metrics — economic strength, military capability, diplomatic influence, cultural power, future resource potential, and resilience.
Historically, countries like the United States (through its Asia-Pacific footprint), China, Japan, and Russia have occupied top ranks due to their established economic or military strengths. India, while always important due to its population and economic size, previously hovered in middle-power category — often trailing ahead of many South and Southeast Asian countries but behind regional heavyweights like Japan, China, Russia.
India’s Journey to Major-Power Status
In recent years — especially post-COVID recovery — India’s economic growth accelerated, foreign investments increased, and strategic defence readiness improved. According to the 2024 edition (prior to 2025), India had already risen to the third rank — but was still classified as a “middle power.” Its overall score in 2024 stood lower (for example 38.1 according to some sources), which was below the major-power threshold.
The 2025 report marks a turning point: crossing the 40-point threshold, improving rankings in economic capability and future resources, and gaining credit for improved military performance (boosted by real-world operations like Operation Sindoor) — all culminating in India’s official reclassification as a major power in Asia.
This change reflects not just numerical improvement but also a shift in perception — from being a rising middle power to being recognized globally as a significant strategic player in Asia.
Key Takeaways from This News
| S. No. | Key Takeaway |
|---|---|
| 1 | India has ranked 3rd out of 27 countries/territories in Asia Power Index 2025. |
| 2 | India scored 40.0 out of 100, marking a ~2% improvement over previous years. |
| 3 | India has been classified as a “major power” in Asia for the first time after crossing the defined threshold. |
| 4 | Strong performance in economic capability, future resources, and inward investments contributed significantly to the rise. |
| 5 | India’s defence networks remain weak (ranked 11th), indicating challenges in translating resource potential into real influence. |
FAQs: Frequently Asked Questions
1. What is the Asia Power Index?
The Asia Power Index is an annual report published by the Lowy Institute, assessing the power of 27 Asian countries and territories based on 131 indicators across eight thematic measures, including military strength, economic capacity, diplomatic influence, cultural influence, resilience, and future resources.
2. What rank did India achieve in the Asia Power Index 2025?
India achieved the 3rd position in the Asia Power Index 2025, behind the United States and China.
3. What score did India obtain in the 2025 Index?
India scored 40.0 out of 100, marking an improvement compared to previous editions and crossing the threshold for “major power” classification.
4. Which areas contributed most to India’s rise in the Index?
India’s improvement was primarily due to strong performance in economic capability, future resources, inward investments, and military strength.
5. Which area remains India’s weakest in the 2025 Index?
India’s defence networks remain its weakest area, where it ranks 11th, indicating the need for further strengthening of military alliances and infrastructure.
6. Why is India being classified as a “major power” significant?
Being classified as a major power recognizes India’s growing capacity to influence regional geopolitics, economic policy, and security in Asia. It also enhances India’s credibility in international forums and strategic partnerships.
7. Who publishes the Asia Power Index?
The Lowy Institute, an Australian think tank, publishes the Asia Power Index annually.
8. How many countries and territories are analyzed in the Index?
The Index analyzes 27 countries and territories across Asia.
9. What is the relevance of this news for government exam aspirants?
This news is relevant for General Studies, International Relations, Geopolitics, Economy, and Defence sections of competitive exams like UPSC, PSCs, SSC, banking, railways, and defence exams.
10. What historical progress has India made in the Asia Power Index?
India has steadily improved over the years from a middle power to a major power, reflecting economic growth, military modernization, and enhanced diplomatic influence, especially post‑COVID recovery.
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