Linking Informality with Strategy: Indo-Myanmar Informal Cross-Border Trade and Challenges to India’s Indo-Pacific Vision

Abstract

India’s Act East Policy and Indo-Pacific Oceans Initiatives (IPOI), which focus on connectivity and regional integration, position the borderland areas of Northeast India as India’s gateway to ASEAN. The 1,643 km long Indo-Myanmar border has been providing a safe space for illicit trading networks, while it has been considered a hot zone for Informal Cross-Border Trade (ICBT) that provides a livelihood mechanism for the people inhabiting the areas along the border. This study examines whether Indo-Myanmar ICBT acts as a complement or as a hindrance to India’s Indo-Pacific Vision (IPV) for regional connectivity by employing a qualitative comparative analysis based on data from academic literature, government documents, and policy analyses. Although Indo-Myanmar ICBT provides a platform that sustains the borderland economy, its complex structural network comprising of difficult hill terrains and inefficient governance outreach, gives rise to various illicit/illegal systems, besides revenue leakage, which causes security issues for various Indian projects targeting Indo-Pacific nations. These fiscal and security perspectives of Indo-Myanmar ICBT give significant implications to India’s Indo-Pacific Vision that aims at the integration of actors in the Indian and Pacific Oceans.