In particular, Theravada Buddhism has tremendously influenced Burmese society and culture for millennia, with around 90% of Burma's population continuing to follow the religion.

[2][8] However, since 1993 the governments of the Indian Prime Ministers P. V. Narasimha Rao and Atal Bihari Vajpayee changed course and began to establish warmer relations between the two nations, as part of a wider foreign policy of increasing India's participation and influence in Southeast Asia, in light of the growing influence of the People's Republic of China, an India-Myanmar joint operation destroyed several militant camps of Arakan Army on the Indo-Myanmar border.

The action averted a possible threat to the ambitious Kaladan transit and transport project which is important for improving the connectivity in the Northeast.

Myanmar is important for India because of the geographic, historical, cultural and economic linkages/ties that span centuries as well as for the overall development of North-Eastern Indian states.

[10] India also took part in the Wilmington Declaration with Japan, the United States, and Australia to discourage the flow of jet fuel and other military items to the SAC junta.

[12] The Indian government has worked to extend air, land and sea routes to strengthen trade links with Myanmar and establish a gas pipeline.

[8][12] While the involvement of India's private sector has been low and growing at a slow pace, both governments are proceeding to enhance cooperation in agriculture, telecommunications, information technology, steel, oil, natural gas, hydrocarbons and food processing.

[12] On 13 February 2001 India and Myanmar inaugurated 250 kilometre Tamu-Kalewa-Kalemyo highway, popularly called the Indo-Myanmar Friendship Road, built mainly by the Indian Army's Border Roads Organisation and aimed to provide a major strategic and commercial transport route connecting North-East India, and South Asia as a whole, to Southeast Asia.

[13] The first phase connecting Guwahati to Mandalay will eventually be extended to Cambodia and Vietnam under Mekong-Ganga Cooperation within the wider framework of Asian Highway Network.

This is aimed at creating a new economic zone ranging from Kolkata on the Bay of Bengal to Ho Chi Minh City on the South China Sea.

[2] India's engagement of the Burmese military junta has helped ease the regime's international isolation and lessen Burma's reliance on China.

[20] India also declared that it had no intention of interfering in Burma's internal affairs and that the Burmese people would have to achieve democracy by themselves as it respects the sovereignty of Myanmar.

[2][8][20] In contrast to much of the international community, Prime Minister Modi declined to criticize Suu Kyi's handling of the 2016–17 Northern Rakhine State clashes or Myanmar's government's treatment of its Rohingya people.

Some Indian media have reported that the country's intelligence agencies suspect militant Royhinga leaders of conspiring with Pakistani terrorists and planning to incite violence in India.