Prince Rahim Aga Khan V, the 50th spiritual leader of the Ismaili Muslim community, arrived in New Delhi on Tuesday on his first visit to India since succeeding his late father, Prince Karim Aga Khan IV, as Imam.Invited by Vice-President C P Radhakrishnan, the Aga Khan will meet him on Thursday for delegation-level talks and is scheduled to call on President Droupadi Murmu and Prime Minister Narendra Modi. He will also meet External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar and Home Minister Amit Shah during his stay in the national capital.The high-level engagements will be followed by visits to Ahmedabad, Mumbai and Hyderabad, where institutions of the Aga Khan Development Network (AKDN) have established a substantial presence.The visit is significant not merely for the Ismaili community but also for India’s longstanding institutional relationship with the Aga Khan network, which has worked in the country since 1905, when the first Aga Khan School was established at Mundra in Gujarat.Over the decades, that relationship has expanded far beyond education and community affairs. The AKDN now works across rural development, agriculture, financial inclusion, healthcare, water and sanitation, climate resilience, education, habitat and heritage conservation. Its India programmes reach more than nine million people annually, according to its latest India profile.The network’s most prominent public footprint is perhaps in the heart of Delhi, where the Aga Khan Trust for Culture has led the conservation of Humayun’s Tomb and surrounding Mughal monuments and the transformation of the adjoining Jattvibeder Nursery and Hazrat Nizamuddin Basti.The initiative, undertaken in partnership with Indian government agencies, has combined restoration of heritage structures with urban regeneration, improved sanitation, healthcare, education, vocational training and livelihood opportunities. The 90-acre Jattvibeder Nursery was inaugurated in 2018 by Aga Khan IV and then Vice-President M Venkaiah Naidu.The broader project covers about 300 acres and has restored Humayun’s Tomb, Jattvibeder Nursery and other monuments in the area.The AKDN’s current footprint is extensive. Its education programmes include eight schools, 19 preschools and the Aga Khan Academy in Hyderabad, together educating more than 8,500 children. In 2025, its early-childhood programmes reached 2.2 million children, while around 2,60,000 people received drinking water and sanitation services through its programmes. Its agencies have helped build more than 1,70,000 sanitation units in India.In healthcare, the network operates an acute-care hospital in Mumbai and runs programmes focused particularly on women and children. Its health programmes provided nutritional screening and counselling to around two million children, adolescents and pregnant women in 2025. The network also works with farmers, communities and civil society organisations on livelihoods, climate resilience and access to government programmes.The Aga Khan’s engagements in India have also extended to heritage conservation beyond Delhi. In Hyderabad, the AKDN has been involved in the conservation of the Qutb Shahi Royal Tombs, a 106-acre heritage complex, making cultural preservation another important pillar of its partnership with Indian authorities.Against this backdrop, Prince Rahim’s visit carries a wider diplomatic significance. The Aga Khan is not only the spiritual leader of millions of Ismailis but also heads a global development network operating across more than 30 countries.The AKDN’s institutions work with governments and communities on development, education, healthcare, economic inclusion and climate resilience, giving the Aga Khan a role that extends beyond religious leadership.His India visit also comes after his high-level engagement with Pakistan, underscoring the distinctive cross-border character of the institution he now leads. Rather than being viewed simply through the prism of community affairs, the Aga Khan’s role increasingly intersects with India’s own priorities in development cooperation and engagement with the Global South.Prince Rahim’s itinerary reflects this breadth. After his meetings in Delhi on Thursday, he will travel to Ahmedabad, where he is scheduled to meet the Gujarat Governor and Chief Minister. He will then travel to Mumbai for an engagement with the Maharashtra Governor before proceeding to Hyderabad, where he will meet the Telangana Governor and Chief Minister.For India, the visit therefore marks both a transition and continuity — the first direct engagement with the new Aga Khan at the highest political level, while reaffirming a partnership that began with a school in Gujarat in 1905 and has since grown into one of the country’s longest-running international philanthropic and development relationships.Prince Rahim succeeded Aga Khan IV as the 50th Imam in February 2025. His India visit is his first since assuming the leadership of the Ismaili community and the AKDN.