The article examines the Indian experience of implementing the doctrine of basic structures and some methodologically consonant approaches to it. This experience has theoretical value for the further development of the national doctrine of constitutional identity in modern conditions, because it is an example of a different functional understanding of constitutional identity - through the prism of its «internal legal» function. The aim of the study is to form a holistic scientific understanding of the origin and development of the doctrine of basic structures, as well as to establish the circumstances that prepared the Indian judicial system for a significant revision of the limits of constitutional amendment.

The research was carried out on the basis of general scientific interdisciplinary and specific methods (formal legal, comparative legal, etc.).

Conclusions: As the experience of constitutional development in other countries shows, threats to the security of the Constitution do not always come from «outside». India is an ideal example of a country that has fully revealed the protective potential of the internal function of its constitutional identity. Despite a certain break with the constitutional tradition, because The intention of the creators of the Constitution definitely did not include a rigid model of constitutional design, the use of the doctrine of «basic structures» made it possible to reconcile the desire for change with the need for continuity and minimize the constitutional disharmony inherent in a complex Indian society. The doctrine of basic structures has become a global phenomenon and has gone far beyond the borders of the Indian state. The original doctrine has been adopted in court decisions of a number of countries in the region (such as Pakistan, Malaysia, Bangladesh, Thailand, etc.). All this suggests that the doctrine of basic structures should be the subject of further theoretical reflection along with the usual (Eurocentric) approaches to the conceptualization of constitutional identity.