In a March 2015 speech delivered in Mauritius, India’s current Prime Minister Narendra Modi outlined what he described was India’s vision for the Indian Ocean Region. Under the acronym, SAGAR or ‘Security and Growth for All in the Region’, five key points were elucidated. Using the concept of maritime governance, the paper examines the actions and rhetoric of Indian policy-makers since 2015 and before, to analyse India’s contribution to building institutions and arrangements for maritime order. Examining three recent developments, the paper highlights India’s growing capacity to behave and deliver outcomes, as a major oceanic player as well as the structural constraints, limiting its room to manoeuvre. It argues that rather than ideas, institutions or individuals, it is the intensification of a core dilemma that is driving change in Indian foreign policy.