What connects a disaster-stricken Indian state, digital payments and missiles defending Philippine shores? The answer helps explain why Narendra Modi’s quarter-century in public office carries significance far beyond India.
On October 7, 2026, Modi marked 25 years since becoming Gujarat’s chief minister in 2001. He moved to India’s premiership in 2014 and secured a third term in 2024. For the Philippines, the milestone offers a chance to examine how India’s domestic development experience has become an increasingly practical part of its international partnerships.
The strongest connection begins with a familiar challenge—disasters.
Modi assumed leadership of Gujarat months after the devastating Kutch earthquake. Reconstruction and resilience became defining concerns of his early administration. Years later, India brought infrastructure resilience onto the international agenda through the Coalition for Disaster Resilient Infrastructure, or CDRI.
That agenda now directly involves Manila. On September 12, 2026, the Philippines joined the coalition as its 71st member, opening another avenue for cooperation on infrastructure that can withstand climate and disaster risks.
For an archipelago repeatedly battered by typhoons, the stakes are concrete. Stronger roads, dependable electricity and functioning hospitals can determine how quickly communities recover—and whether businesses survive prolonged disruption.
Energy offers another example of ideas growing beyond their original setting.
Gujarat’s Charanka Solar Park helped shape India’s national solar-park development scheme. India subsequently expanded its international solar ambitions through the International Solar Alliance, jointly launched with France in 2015. These initiatives illustrate a progression from building domestic capacity to organizing cooperation across borders.
For the Philippines, that experience invites a practical question: how can renewable-energy projects grow from individual installations into a dependable system supporting households, industry and remote communities?
India’s digital transformation presents an equally compelling discussion.
Its digital public infrastructure—including Aadhaar identification and the Unified Payments Interface—has become an international reference point for connecting identity, payments and public services. The World Bank has examined these systems as examples of infrastructure that can support inclusion and innovation.
The relevance to Manila is easy to see. Digital systems can help make transactions simpler and government services more accessible. India’s experience also demonstrates the administrative potential of scale: its CoWIN platform supported a vaccination campaign that surpassed two billion COVID-19 doses in July 2022.
Economic reform forms another strand of Modi’s record. Investment promotion, the Goods and Services Tax and insolvency reforms have sought to reshape how businesses operate. His 2016 demonetization remains contentious, however, underscoring why ambitious implementation and successful outcomes require separate assessment.
The bilateral relationship has also acquired a harder strategic edge.
The Philippines received its first BrahMos missile shipment from India in April 2024 under a $375-million agreement signed in 2022. In August 2025, the two countries conducted their first bilateral Maritime Cooperative Activity, adding operational cooperation to their expanding defense relationship.
Healthcare adds another dimension. The Philippines became the first ASEAN country to grant emergency authorization to India’s Covaxin, while India’s support for the WHO Global Traditional Medicine Centre in Gujarat extended its health cooperation internationally.
Taken together, these developments suggest a useful lens for understanding Modi’s milestone: India has increasingly made its capabilities part of its diplomacy.
For Filipinos, the most consequential question is what those partnerships can deliver—safer infrastructure, accessible services, cleaner energy and stronger maritime security. That is where a political anniversary becomes a development story.
