Central Asia sits at the centre of Eurasia and is separated from India only by the narrow Wakhan Corridor of Afghanistan, so instability there reaches India's northern frontier quickly. Three interests follow from that geography. The first is counter-terrorism: the five republics have taken a firm line against religious extremism, which aligns closely with India's concerns about groups operating from Afghanistan. The second is resources - the region holds substantial hydrocarbon reserves, uranium, of which Kazakhstan is a major supplier to India's civil nuclear reactors, and critical and rare-earth minerals needed for the energy transition. The third is balance: as China's economic footprint in the region expands through the Belt and Road Initiative, the Central Asian states have themselves sought to widen their range of partners, and India's full SCO membership since 2017 and the India-Central Asia Dialogue give it standing platforms to do so. The persistent constraint is access. India has no overland route to the region because transit through Pakistan is unavailable, which is why Chabahar port in Iran and the International North-South Transport Corridor recur in every discussion of India's Central Asia policy.