The Brookings Institution announced this morning that it is opening Brookings India in New Delhi.
Brookings, which was just named as the top think tank in the world in 2012, said that it is opening the India branch because of India's "growing importance on the world's stage as the world's largest democracy and a rising power with one of the fastest growing economies."
Here is the goal of Brookings India:
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.Vikrah Singh Mehta will serve as Chairman of Brookings India. He was recently Chairman of the Shell Group of Companies in India.
Those funding Brookings India include via the so-called "Founders Circle" include:
- 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)
- Arshad Zakaria (New Vernon Capital)
Here is what Financial Times has to say about the new Brookings India.
It was reported in early 2012 that Brookings and the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace
(CEIP) had been looking to set up shop in India.
According to the latest University of Pennsylvania think tank rankings, India ranks #4 in the world in terms of number of thinks tanks, with 269. The US is #1 (1823), China is #2 (429), and the UK is #3 (288).
Currently, the top-ranked think tank in India is the Centre for Civil Society (CCS), ranked #51 in terms of non-US think tanks.
