India-Maldives Relations

India-Maldives ties have swung from a low to a high in barely two years. President Mohamed Muizzu won Maldives' 2023 election partly on an 'India Out' plank and pushed to remove Indian military personnel, but a deepening foreign-exchange crisis and a cooling China bet forced a reset. By Prime Minister Modi's July 2025 state visit - as guest of honour for Maldives' 60th Independence Day - New Delhi was extending fresh credit, easing Male's debt, launching free-trade talks and rolling out UPI, cementing the archipelago's place in India's 'Neighbourhood First' and maritime-security calculus in the Indian Ocean.