The Neighborhood First Policy (NFP) is a foreign-policy concept and doctrine that defines India's strategic approach to prioritizing relations with its immediate South Asian and Indian Ocean neighbours. The policy's objective is to foster regional stability, economic growth, and cooperative security, while also counterbalancing external influences, particularly from China. The intellectual lineage of the NFP traces back to the Gujral Doctrine, articulated by Foreign Minister I. K. Gujral in 1996–97, which advocated for the principle of non-reciprocity. While the concept emerged around 2008, the operative label was formally coined after Prime Minister Narendra Modi assumed office in May 2014.
The NFP works through an aggregation of bilateral instruments, lines of credit, and technical cooperation. Key mechanisms include aid, connectivity, and asymmetric reciprocity, focusing on enhancing physical, digital, and people-to-people connectivity, and augmenting trade and commerce. It is implemented through institutions like the Ministry of External Affairs' Development Partnership Administration, created in 2012, and the Indian Technical and Economic Cooperation (ITEC) programme, established in 1964. The policy connects to the executive's foreign-affairs powers under the Union List of the Seventh Schedule. Recently, the policy has been undergoing a recalibration, with a shift from a perception of "Big Brother" to "elder brother" and a focus on trade as a key tool for durable partnerships. For instance, India provided US$4.5 billion in assistance to Sri Lanka in 2022 and extended a ₹4,850 crore Line of Credit to the Maldives in July 2025.