Manohar Parrikar Institute for Defence Studies and Analyses
मनोहर पर्रिकर रक्षा अध्ययन एवं विश्लेषण संस्थान

Abhay Kumar Singh

Commodore Abhay Kumar Singh (Retd) is a Research Fellow at the Southeast Asia and Oceania Centre in the Institute for Defence Studies and Analyses, New Delhi. He is an Indian Navy veteran with extensive command and staff experience spanning 27 years. A surface warfare officer with a specialisation in Missile and Gunnery Warfare, he has commanded various Indian Navy Ships Talwar, Nieekshak and Matanga.  In addition to his service in various afloat and staff appointments in the Indian Navy, he has also served as Director (Military Affairs) in the Disarmament and International Security Division of the Ministry of External Affairs, Government of India.Commodore Singh is an alumnus of the Naval Academy, Defence Services Staff College and Naval War College. He has an MSc (Defence and Strategic Studies) from the University of Chennai and an MPhil from Mumbai University. During 59th Staff Course at DSSC, he was awarded Gen Lentaigne Memorial Medal for his research on ‘Role of the UN in Combatting International Terrorism’.Maritime geopolitics in the Indo-Pacific is his key area of research. A frequent contributor to journals and periodicals on geopolitical issues, he has authored a book on the dynamics of India-China relation titled “India-China Rivalry- Asymmetric No Longer: An Assessment of China’s Evolving Perceptions of India” and has co-edited a book titled “UKRAINE WAR: Military Perspectives and Strategic Reflections”.

Research Fellow (SS)

Key Publications

Book

  • India-China Rivalry- Asymmetric No Longer: An Assessment of China’s Evolving Perceptions of India (KW Publisher 2021)
  • Sujan Chinoy, Abhay Kumar Singh, Vivek Chadha (ed), UKRAINE WAR Military Perspectives and Strategic Reflections, Pentagon Press (2024)

Book Chapters

  • Tracking Russia–Ukraine War: A Conflict that Defied Expectations, Sujan Chinoy, Abhay Kumar Singh, Vivek Chadha (ed), UKRAINE WAR Military Perspectives and Strategic Reflections, Pentagon Press (2024)
  • Maritime Theatre of the Ukraine War, Sujan Chinoy, Abhay Kumar Singh, Vivek Chadha (ed), UKRAINE WAR Military Perspectives and Strategic Reflections, Pentagon Press (2024)
  • 2050 Africa Integrated Maritime Strategy and India’s SAGAR Vision: Charting Convergences and Cooperative Synergy, Ruchita Beri (ed), India-Africa: Building Synergies in Peace, Security and Development, Pentagon Press (2024)
  • India and the Idea of Indo-Pacific: A Hesitant Embrace?; Sujan Chinoy & Jagannath Panda (ed), Asia between Multipolarism and MultipolarityPublisher: KW Publisher (2020)
  • India-Japan Strategic Partnership: Imperatives for Ensuring ‘Good Order at Sea’ in the Indo-Pacific, Sujan Chinoy & Jagannath Panda (ed), Scaling India-Japan Cooperation in Indo-Pacific and Beyond 2025: Corridors, Connectivity and ContoursPublisher (KW Publisher, 2019)
  • Expanding Turbulent Maritime Periphery: Gray Zone Conflicts with Chinese Characteristics, Vikrant Despande (ed), Hybrid Warfare: The Changing Character of Warfare (Pentagon Press 2018)
  • India as a Net Security Provider in the Indian Ocean: The Strategic Approach of a Responsible Stakeholder , Jivanta Schottli (ed), Maritime Governance and South Asia (World Scientific, 2018)
  • South China Sea Conundrum: Plus Ça Change, MS Pratibha (ed), East Asia Strategic Review: China’s Rising Strategic Ambitions in Asia (Pentagon Press, 2018)
  • Ephemeral Maritime Destiny: Rise and Fall of Imperial Japan Sea Power (1853-1944), Sachin Pendse & Odakkal Johnson (ed), Essays in Maritime Studies: Vol-III, (Maritime History Society,2016)

Articles

  • Defence Budget 2025-26: Key Highlights, Issue Brief, February 17, 2024
  • Quad-at-Sea Observer Mission: Exploring the Prospects of Coast Guard Collaboration, IDSA Issue Brief, November 14, 2024
  • Defence Budget 2024-25: Key Highlights, IDSA Issue Brief, August 2024
  • Decoding Key Naval Responses to the Red Sea Crisis, IDSA Issue Brief, Jul 10, 2024
  • India and the Scorpene Club, IDSA Issue Brief, Apr 24, 2024
  • P75 (1) Submarines and Strategic Partnership Model “P75 (1) SUBMARINES AND STRATEGIC PARTNERSHIP MODEL” IDSA Issue Brief, March 28, 2024
  • Defence Budget 2024-25: Trend Analysis, IDSA Issue Brief, February 16, 2024
  • Attack on Sevastopol: Key Takeaways, IDSA Issue Brief, October 04, 2023
  • US Cluster Munitions for Ukraine: Military Context and Legal Considerations, IDSA Issue Brief, July 14, 2023
  • The San Diego Roadmap for AUKUS: Hits and Misses, IDSA Issue Brief, April 17, 2023
  • Defence Budget 2023–24: Trend Analysis, IDSA Issue Brief, February 17, 2023
  • Quad’s Maritime Domain Awareness Initiative Needs Time to Deliver, June 24, 2022
  • ADMM-Plus and India’s Act East Policy, IDSA Issue Brief , December 16, 2022
  • Israel–Lebanon Maritime Boundary Agreement: An Assessment, IDSA Backgrounder, November 11, 2022
  • One Year of AUKUS: An Assessment of Progress and Challenges, IDSA Issue Brief, November 02, 2022
  • The Second Quad Summit- Whither Indo-Pacific Order, Chanakya Forum, September 23, 2021
  • Quad Foreign Ministers’ Meeting: Decoding the Joint Statement. IDSA Issue Brief, March 04, 2022
  • The Geopolitician and His Evolving Mental Map: The Works of KM Panikkar Revisited, Indian Naval Despatch, Vol. 2, No. 2, Winter 2021
  • Geopolitical Churning in the Indo-Pacific and the Persistent ‘Sea Foam’ of QUAD, Chanakya Forum. October 20, 2020
  • Military Manpower Cost in India and the United States: A Comparative Analysis, MP-IDSA, Special Feature, May 29, 2020
  • “Vietnam’s Defence White Paper 2019: Charting a Safe Course in the Midst Of Turbulent Regional Geopolitics”, East Asia Military Monitor, Volume 3, Issue 2, March-April 2020
  • Emerging Contours of Maritime Security Architecture under the Belt and Road Initiative, Journal of Defence Studies, Vol 12 No. 4, Oct – Dec 2018
  • India’s Pathways for Regional Prominence in Asia-Pacific – Prospects and Challenges, Journal of Defence Studies, Vol 12 No. 1, Jan-Mar 2018
  • South Asian Geopolitics- Has Pakistan Lost its Plot?, Journal of Defence Studies, Vol 11 No. 4, October-December 2017
  • Unpacking China’s White Paper on Maritime Cooperation under BRI, IDSA Issue Brief, June 28, 2017
  • China’s White Paper on Asia Pacific Security Cooperation: An Assessment, IDSA Issue Brief, January 19, 2017
  • China’s Creeping Maritime Assertiveness, IDSA Issue Brief, January 03, 2017
  • Cross LOC Strike and India’s Reputation for Resolve, IDSA Commentary, October 21, 2016
  • The Admiralty (Jurisdiction and Settlement of Maritime Claims) Bill 2016 – The Long Journey of an Important Maritime Legislation, IDSA Commentary, October 03, 2016
  • Maritime Exclusion Zone: Legal Perspective and Strategic Options, Maritime Affairs, Vol 4, Issue 1 (Summer 2008)

Publication

The Second Quad Summit- Whither Indo-Pacific Order

Research Fellow, Manohar Parrikar IDSA, Cmde. Abhay Kumar Singh’s article ‘The Second Quad Summit-Whither Indo-Pacific Order’ has been published by the Chanakya Forum on September 23, 2021.

The outcome and policy choices emerging out of this momentous meeting of the Quad leaders will be carefully watched, given the increasingly arduous burden of expectations from the second Quad summit in shaping geopolitical contours of the Indo-Pacific, says Cmde. Singh.

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India–China Rivalry: Asymmetric No Longer: An Assessment of China’s Evolving Perceptions of India

  • Publisher: KW Publishers
In recent years, there has been growing interest in deciphering the nature and contours of bilateral dynamics between India and China, since the contours bilateral dynamics between the two rising powers have potential implications for the evolving geopolitical order in the region and even beyond. This book is not about understanding the nature of rivalry dynamics between India and China but prominently focuses on China’s mental and emotional image of India, which has remained an underexplored dimension in contemporary scholarship.

The aim of the book is two-fold. First, this book is an effort to analyse China’s contemporary perceptual image about India primarily through the analysis of Chinese publications on the subject. Second, this book questions the prevalent notion of characterising India-China rivalry as ‘one-sided’ or ‘asymmetric.’

Unarguably, power asymmetry, with substantial Chinese advantage, has been a persistent characteristic of India-China relations and is likely to remain or even grow further. India, being weaker in this dyad, naturally has a greater threat perception vis-à-vis China. However, this apparent power asymmetry does not provide China with an overwhelming advantage over India.

The book argues that India has been and continues to be a ‘strategic rival’ in Chinese perception even though it is not categorised by China as its ‘principal rival.’ In the contemporary period, as India expands its defence capabilities, extends its regional outreach and deepens its engagement with major powers, Beijing has begun to factor New Delhi into its strategic calculus even more seriously.

  • ISBN: 978-93-91490-01-0 ,
  • Price: ?. 980/-
  • E-copy available

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Geopolitical Churning in the Indo-Pacific and the Persistent ‘Sea Foam’ of QUAD

Research Fellow, Manohar Parrikar IDSA, Commodore Abhay Kumar Singh’s article ‘Geopolitical Churning in the Indo-Pacific and the Persistent ‘Sea Foam’ of QUAD’ has been published in Chanakya Forum on October 20, 2020.

Quad 2.0 has certainly gathered momentum with growing convergence of views among members. The debate continues regarding the future role, value and relevance of Quad construct. Even though Quad 2.0 remains a work in progress, it has served the limited purpose of political signalling, writes Commodore Singh.

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Military Manpower Cost in India and the United States: A Comparative Analysis

While both India and the US face similar fiscal constraints, the approach towards military manpower cost in the two countries significantly diverge. The prevailing debate in India about the imperative to greater economic efficiency in military manpower cost would benefit from a holistic examination of approaches undertaken by the US in managing its manpower expenditure.

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Emerging Contours of Maritime Security Architecture under the Belt and Road Initiative

The revival of the centuries-old ‘Silk Road at Sea’ into a 21st Century Maritime Silk Road (MSR) is an integral part of China’s ambitious Belt and Road Initiative (BRI). The Chinese White Paper on its vision for enhancing maritime cooperation broadly confirms this perception, since it considers maritime security assurance as the lynchpin of MSR initiatives. As its trade and overseas economic interests have been constantly growing, Beijing’s strategic concern about protection of these interests has magnified.

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India’s Pathways for Regional Prominence in Asia-Pacific: Prospects and Challenges

Asian geopolitics currently represents a complex blending of power and paradox, both stable and fluid, with change occurring against an unresolved tension between the direction of economic growth and that of strategic anxiety. With the continent turning into the economic growth engine of the world, regional geopolitics is witnessing friction between Asian powers that had previously kept economic and political separation from one another.

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