Book Review | The Policy Pivot: Inside India’s Strategic Shift

Last Updated:March 07, 2026, 21:15 IST

The book is a commendable effort to lay out a balanced analysis of the Indian policy landscape in a style accessible to the general readers

For decades, the making of public policy in India had been confined to the close quarters of the government, administration, elected representatives, lobbyists, and their respective coterie. The democratisation of policymaking in the past decade has served as a catalyst for the realisation of the seriousness of this business. It is not without reason that the first hiring made by OpenAI in India, even before it opened its physical office last year, was the India head for its policy vertical. The Indian central and state governments have cautiously begun acknowledging that the state apparatus does have chinks in its armour, and there are multiple gaps in the policymaking pipeline that can be plugged through the democratic intervention of appropriate stakeholders.

As the policy landscape in India evolves, the shifts it is going through are being closely observed, documented, and influenced by forces which are committed to the improvisation of India’s public policy architecture across sectors. A crucial addition to the growing literature on public policy in India is a recent collection of essays titled “The Policy Pivot: Inside India’s Strategic Shift", edited by Ajay Khanna and Rahul Sharma, co-founders of Public Affairs Forum of India (PAFI), an influential platform for the convergence of policy professionals from leading Indian and multinational companies. Essays delving into critical policy questions of our times, ranging from the social, economic, and diplomatic domains to those charting out the challenges and exploring pathways for the future of policymaking in India, have been strung together seamlessly in this collection. Bringing insights from a range of policy leaders, including academicians, policy practitioners, bureaucrats, industry experts, and philanthropists, the volume is a commendable effort to lay out a balanced analysis of the Indian policy landscape in a style accessible to the general readers.

Nandan Nilekani, reflecting on his personal tryst with policymaking, states in his essay, “And all the work I have done on policy—whether it is from the private sector or as a government person or from an NGO—has been from an angle of how does policy make the country better, and I think that’s a very important thing in policy. Policy is not lobbying; policy is about figuring out what’s good for the country and then making sure you articulate that and make it effective." It’s a succinct yet powerful observation on what the nature of policymaking should ideally be. Policymaking is an art, skill, and commitment all at once. It decides the course of governance and the fate of nations.

There’s been a paradigm shift from policymaking being perceived as the sole responsibility of government to it being rightly engaged with by all stakeholders as a process for socio-economic welfare of citizens and development of the nation. This democratisation of policymaking processes has opened the floodgates for shaping informed public policy. Ajay Khanna articulates this shift as such: “The industry is shifting from influence primarily driven by personal networks to leadership rooted in knowledge and expertise. While connections still matter, content expertise, analytical rigour and the ability to navigate complex issues are far more valuable in earning the respect of policymakers and the public." The editor rightly notes in his essay mapping India’s policy landscape that our “public affairs ecosystem" has transformed itself with a deep sense of responsiveness and accountability towards the Indian citizens, while also aligning with the global best practices to be in sync with the interdependency of the globe.

Articulating the perspective of parliamentarians who lie at the core of policymaking processes, Shashank Mani highlights the significance of grassroots social change to drive us towards the vision of Viksit Bharat, which he describes as a “citizen-led movement that can become the largest nation-building exercise in human history". Emphasising on the need for an economic transformation at the grassroots, he argues that India’s villages and townships ought to be placed as the foci of such “economic renaissance", indicating the need for a change in a positive bias towards big cities as sole epicentres of economic growth. The book also identifies a major gap in our policy circles, namely, the lack of capacity building frameworks and institutions to upskill “all sectors of the samaaj, sarkaar and bazaar". Capacity building of our administrative functionaries through internal and external training-cum-feedback also opens avenues for collaboration in creating a public impact supported by all stakeholders.

The volume is a timely reminder for India to play on its strengths, such as capitalising on its potential as a global exporter of services. Most importantly, it stresses on the critical role of aspirational classes in writing India’s growth story and calls for greater involvement of the youth and women workforce in shaping India’s political economy. The volume has also dedicated entire sections to examine the state of economic policies and the geoeconomic and diplomatic manoeuvres of India. It makes a clear case for laying out India’s policy priorities, as described by Rajiv Kumar (Chairman, Pahle India foundation)—first, an acknowledgement of the colonial hangover of the Indian administrative state and its inherent “suspicion and mistrust" towards the private sector; second, rectification of the “massive infusion of regulatory cholesterol in the governance mechanism"; and third, easing the regulatory framework and creating a genuine stakeholdership for the private sector in policymaking. The private sector has already buckled itself up for serious interventions into policymaking through its government relations departments.

While the volume surely reads as a professional policy manual for academics and general readers alike, it goes beyond the conventional boundaries and addresses themes including the role of Indian philanthropy in shaping policy, wherein Ashish Dhawan and other authors elaborate on the criticality of having organisations such as The Convergence Foundation, which channel philanthropic funding towards razor-sharp policy outcomes. Whether it is Richard Rossow’s essay on state-level business reforms or Union Minister Hardeep Puri’s take on how India can ensure energy security, the volume amply lays out the sectors that need the immediate attention of policy wonks and makers in order to secure India’s future. Overall, the book serves as a pivot to smoothly navigate the Indian policy landscape.

Yashowardhan Tiwari is currently working as a Programme Manager – Publications & Consulting, at Rashtram School of Public Leadership, Rishihood University. He was formerly a Research Fellow at India Foundation. The views expressed in the above piece are personal and solely those of the authors. They do not necessarily reflect News18’s views.

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