The aim of the article is to analyse the evolution of India’s international strategy in the Indian Ocean and the Pacific regions from the end of the Cold War to 2015. To understand India’s activity in these regions, it is necessary to discuss not only its actions in these areas but also the strategies adopted by New Delhi as well as the aims, methods and guidelines of foreign policy declared by Indian leaders. The adopted hypothesis stresses that India effected a significant transformation in defining its international identity, which is the key determinant of increased dynamism of India’s foreign policy in the Indian Ocean region. In 1985, India referred to itself as the major power in South Asia and a developing country; in 2015 it ties its identity to the Indian Ocean and the Pacific regions, defining itself as the major power of the Indo-Pacific. The structure of this article is designed so as to verify this thesis. The Indian Ocean region in Indian foreign policy will be analysed on three levels: strategic, conceptual and operational.