India's Strategic Autonomy and Hedging in the Indo-Pacific : Balancing Between Major Powers

India's foreign policy has long been guided by the principle of strategic autonomy, a legacy of the Non-Aligned Movement. Still, its meaning and practice have evolved significantly in the context of the Indo-Pacific. As the rivalry between the United States and China intensifies, India finds itself at the center of regional geopolitics, compelled to safeguard its security interests while maintaining a flexible policy. This paper examines how India operationalizes strategic autonomy through a hedging strategy that seeks to balance between deepening partnerships with the U.S., Japan, Australia, and other like-minded countries, while simultaneously managing its complex relationship with China and preserving historical ties with Russia. By tracing the evolution of India's approach from non-alignment to multi-alignment, the study highlights both continuities and shifts under recent governments. Using case studies of defense agreements, India–China border tensions, and India–Russia energy and arms engagement, the analysis argues that India's hedging enables short-term flexibility but faces long-term constraints as great-power rivalry hardens. The findings suggest that while strategic autonomy remains a central pillar of India's diplomacy, its sustainability depends on how effectively India adapts to the narrowing space for hedging in an increasingly polarized Indo-Pacific order.