Not All Bad
Corporate India or private philanthropists may dig deep to fund foreign think tanks but its not true that they have remained completely cold to Indian institutions. Bangalore-based Indian Institute of Human Settlements is an institution that has received corporate support (though it’s a university, not a think tank).
And then there is Mumbai-based Gateway House, a foreign-policy think tank, founded by diplomat Neelam Deo and former journalist Manjeet Kripalani, which has been supported by, among others, Mohandas Pai, Mahindras, and investor Rakesh Jhunjhunwala.
“We were clear that we didn’t want either government or foreign funding,” says Kripalani. “But it has taken a lot of hard work to raise funds from Indian companies, even those with a large overseas presence, because they still view foreign policy as being purely the government’s job,” she says.