Opportunities and Challenges of Building International Connectivity: The Indian Perspective on China's "One Belt and One Road" Initiative

India is among the countries invited to join China’s initiative to build the Silk Road Economic Belt and the 21st-Century Maritime Silk Road（the OBOR）. New Delhi has not yet decided whether to join. In fact, there is a diversity of opinion within India. This paper proposes an alternative perspective for examining India’s policy and responses to the OBOR from the perspective of international connectivity. For India, the OBOR presents both economic benefits and geopolitical concerns. Particularly, India prefers to be the hub of the network of international connectivity. To bracket the concerns together, this paper suggests that India may offer conditional support to the OBOR, join the Bangladesh-China-India-Myanmar Economic Corridor (BCIM-EC), but oppose the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor （CPEC）.