New Delhi, India – The Brookings Institution announced today that it is opening Brookings India—a centre for public policy research based in New Delhi. Brookings is making this move because of India’s growing importance on the world stage as the world’s largest democracy and a rising power with one of the fastest growing economies.
Brookings India will serve as a platform for cutting-edge, policy-relevant research and analysis on the opportunities and challenges facing India and the world. Indians will play the primary role in directing, staffing and funding the centre. The research priorities of Brookings India—including domestic and global economics, foreign policy, energy policy and infrastructure policy—will be aligned with India’s policy agenda. Brookings India will seek to collaborate with existing Indian think tanks across the country. Its work will be based on the Brookings motto of “Quality, Independence, Impact,” promoting in India its brand of independent, in-depth research and engagement in the policy debate.
Vikram Singh Mehta will serve as Chairman of Brookings India. Mehta, until recently, was chairman of the Shell Group of Companies in India. After beginning his career with the Indian Administrative Service, he held positions with Philips Petroleum and Oil India Limited. “Given India’s considerable strategic importance to the United States and the larger international community, how India deals with its challenges and opportunities is a matter of great interest across the world,” said Mehta. “The Brookings Institution is the oldest independent think tank. For the fifth year in a row, it has just been ranked as the most influential, most quoted and most trusted think tank in the world. Brookings India will utilize Brookings’ time-tested methods as the world’s leading think tank while providing an Indian perspective in the policy debate.”
“Whether humanity thrives in the 21st century will depend in no small measure on India’s success in meeting the needs of its people and in exerting regional and global leadership,” said Strobe Talbott, president of the Brookings Institution. “My colleagues and I believe that the model of independent policy-relevant research that Brookings has developed over nearly 100 years will contribute to an informed Indian citizenry and provide useful analysis and recommendations to Indian policymakers as they deal with these challenges. In addition, the connection to Brookings in Washington will help increase the reach of Indian scholars to the United States and elsewhere.”
The establishment of Brookings India has been made possible by the generous and visionary support of the Brookings India Initiative Founders Circle, a group that believes in the importance of independent policy research at this critical juncture in India’s history.
The current members of the Founders Circle supporting the Initiative are Nita and Mukesh Ambani (Reliance Industries Ltd.), Rahul Bajaj (Bajaj Auto Ltd.), Shyam S. Bhartia and Hari S. Bhartia (Jubilant Bhartia Group), Gaurav Dalmia (Dalmia Group), Steven A. Denning (General Atlantic LLC), Kris Gopalakrishnan (Infosys), Baba Kalyani (Bharat Forge), Onkar S. Kanwar and Neeraj R. S. Kanwar (Apollo Tyres), Rana Kapoor (YES Bank), Shiv Vikram Khemka and Uday Khemka (SUN Group), Geetanjali and Vikram Kirloskar (Kirloskar Systems Ltd.), Rajiv B. Lall (IDFC), Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw (Biocon), Rajan Bharti Mittal and Rakesh Bharti Mittal (Bharti Enterprises), Sanjay Nayar, Vineet and Varun Nayar (Sampark), Ajay Piramal (Piramal Enterprises Ltd.), Dattaraj V. Salgaocar (V. M. Salgaocar Group), Harsh Pati Singhania (J.K. Organisation), Krishen Sud (Sivik Global Healthcare, Inc.), Tata Group, Antoine van Agtmael (Garten Rothkopf), Adil Zainulbhai and Ashraf Dahod (Dawat-e-Hadiyah), and Arshad Zakaria (New Vernon Capital).
The Brookings Institution is a private nonprofit organization devoted to independent research and innovative policy solutions. Brookings India will be comprised of separate companies, incorporated and operated under Indian law.