International Relations · IORA, Mekong–Ganga & Sub-Regional Cooperation
The concept being tested: International North-South Transport Corridor (INSTC).
India is one of the founding members of the International North-South Transport Corridor (INSTC), a multimodal transportation corridor, which will connect
The International North-South Transport Corridor was established in 2000 through an agreement signed in St Petersburg by India, Iran and Russia, making these three the original founding members before the corridor expanded to include Central Asian and other states. INSTC is a 7,200-km multimodal network of sea, rail and road links designed to move freight from Mumbai through Iran's Chabahar and Bandar Abbas ports, across the Caspian Sea, into Russia and onward to northern Europe. Iran is the indispensable land bridge in this design because it is the only INSTC partner offering India direct access to both the Arabian Sea and the Central Asian landmass, bypassing the longer Suez Canal route. This is why the corridor is correctly described as connecting India to Central Asia and Europe via Iran, cutting freight time by roughly 40 per cent and distance by about 30 per cent versus the conventional sea route.
What UPSC was testing
UPSC is testing whether aspirants know Iran, not Azerbaijan or China, is the pivotal transit state that gives INSTC its India-to-Europe reach; options built from adjoining connectivity projects, such as a China-style link or a South-East Asia link, are classic distractors.
How often this comes up
This concept has appeared 3 times in UPSC Prelims General Studies Paper I between 2015 and 2025 — in 2015 and 2025.
The option-by-option autopsy for this question — why each of the other three is wrong, and which neighbouring concept each one was built from — is in the app.