The Indian-Maldives joint military exercise named ‘Ekuverin’ started out in Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala, on Tuesday, making its 14th edition. Taking place from December 2 to 15, 2025, the two-week training course has the primary goal of raising the level of interoperability for counter-insurgency and counter-terrorism operations over jungle, semi-urban and coastal terrains.
The exercise brings together 45 personnel from the Indian Army, a Garhwal Rifles battalion from the Southern Command, and another 45 from the Maldives National Defence Force. This joint exercise has a well-structured contingent that organically integrates both partners and joint learning which is the underlying principle of this program.
One common goal with joint coordination
“Ekuverin” in Dhivehi signifies as “friends”, a well-suited name for a bilateral exercise concentrated on the basis of faith in each other and operation-related mutualism. Troops would bring in their best practices, make their tactical drills finer, and indulge in joint operational planning with the purpose of increasing their common security challenges answering capability in the Indian Ocean Region.
A key point of focus this year is the introduction of niche technology in order to make the interoperability better. The very idea of realistic, multi-terrain scenarios aims at the unit’s cohesiveness , impelling of the decision-making speed, and laying down of the communication protocols for high-pressure missions, ranging from coastal interdictions to urban area security.
Scope and structure of the training
Though the size of the scenario is small, it is very detailed. The teams will have the chance to display their response efficiency through the drills as they will go through them in a coordinated manner, do mission planning together, and in the end, analyze the results to draw conclusions from the respective incidents. This blend is a great aid in going through the standard operating procedures quickly and making sure that both forces are on the same page and always.
Among others, the practice program offers counter-terrorism and counter-insurgency exercises set in the jungle, semi-urban, and coastal terrains. The situations created through these are the same as the ones that are usually very difficult to handle, in the sense that they consist of multiple contingencies and they require quick responses, accuracy, and very minimal unintended casualties.
India-Maldives defence partnership has a constant and strong pillar
Since 2009, the Exercise Ekuverin has been going between the two countries(India and the Maldives) and has now reached the stage where it is always there for the two nations to depend upon for defense cooperation. It acts as an implementation of the rather practical Neighbourhood First policy of India and a common ground for the two nations in terms of peace and stability in the Indian Ocean Region.
For New Delhi and Male, the maneuver has somehow become more than just a yearly routine. It is such an occasion that the military-to-military relationship gets an extremely helpful push through it. Moreover, any such exercises are getting better and better as the time goes on. They even help in enhancing the different kinds of forces and their capabilities. The outcome is that the security partnership becomes more resilient and flexible.
Exercise #EKUVERIN 2025
🇮🇳🤝🇲🇻The 14th edition of the annual bilateral Exercise EKUVERIN between the #IndianArmy and the #MaldivesNationalDefenceForces will be conducted from 02 to 15 December 2025 at #Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala.
The exercise aims to enhance interoperability… pic.twitter.com/6aRHa0EfdF
— ADG PI – INDIAN ARMY (@adgpi) November 30, 2025
Why Ekuverin is Relevant Now
Concurrent with the evolving situation of regional stability, the readiness and trustworthiness of the participants are getting more and more valuable. The initiative of having exercises such as Ekuverin is to the advantage of both forces, preparing them for the threats which could come either from the land or the sea, with terrorism, insurgency, and complex crisis being among them. These joint forces that are well-equipped and highly synchronized are not only increasing the likelihood of success but also reducing the action time during such conditions.
Investing in shared training facilities and technology-based coordination, the Indian Army and the Maldives National Defence Force are creating a bond that connects them in the thick of it. When produced by force of the right circumstances, this bond can prove very effective and time-saving.
Ekuverin is a joint military engagement that links India and the Maldives. In a bilateral context, it stands side by side with the Ekatha exercise. ‘Dosti’ where a tripartite collaboration is featured, with Sri Lanka, further highlighting a propensity for the geographic area to focus on collective maritime security and coordinated response mechanisms.
In total, these exercises form a web of cooperation across boundaries, which encompasses the entire spectrum of military operations including land battles to maritime surveillance and humanitarian assistance. Each repetition step further to an up scaling of the comfortable feeling and mutual trust.
Items of interest for the 2025 episode
During the current year’s exercise in Kerala, the major themes will be the operations on the coast and adaptability to different terrains, as well as the use of peculiar technologies for the purpose of enhancing interoperability. We can anticipate that both sides will place maximum importance on joint planning, communication, and precision drills, the latter of which will be the techniques that can be used in the actual mission.
Over the period of these two weeks, the major goal is continuously highlighted, which is to increase the capacity, improve the tactics, and build trust. Working in small, defined groups that also share skills and learnings, Ekuverin 2025 hopes to bring huge improvements to the India-Maldives defence cooperation which can be measured.
When Ekuverin kicks off in Thiruvananthapuram, it will show the same strategy. India and the Maldives are creating a training approach to meet the changing security demands thus becoming partners based on a friendship that is aiming for a safer and more stable Indian Ocean Region.
