Some of the major reasons for the limited progress on the part of SAARC to take off in any concrete manner has been due to-

1. Origin of SAARC- since its inception, SAARC was seen as a tool by some countries to contain India, while India also harbored its own apprehensions that the organization may be used by smaller states to score political points against it at multilateral forums.

2. India- Pakistan relations: bilateral difficulties between two of the largest members of SAARC have had casted a long shadow over the idea of SAARC. Other members of SAARC have often argued that the SAARC grouping has been crippled/ has been held back because of the fluctuating nature of their relationship. Moreover, Pakistan has never supported the idea of strengthening SAARC as it fears that India will occupy centre stage within the grouping.

3. The structural asymmetry between size of India & its South Asian neighbors provides a fertile ground for apprehensions/insecurities to crop up between nations. In this context the advocacy of inclusion of China as a member by Pakistan and now Nepal in recent times is to be seen as an attempt to counter India’s role.