The NITI Aayog reset: From thinking reforms to making them work

Even before the dust had settled after the first phase of voting in the West Bengal elections on April 23, a quiet but consequential notification emerged from New Delhi. Ashok Lahiri, until recently the BJP MLA from Balurghat in Bengal and who made way for the candidature of Bidyut Roy, was appointed vice-chairman of NITI Aayog.

As the fourth vice-chairman of the Union government’s premier policy think-tank, Lahiri replaces Suman Bery. More than politics, he has been known and well respected for his deep understanding of macroeconomics. Formerly chief economic advisor to the Atal Bihari Vajpayee government and a member of the 15th Finance Commission, Lahiri brings both policy depth and administrative experience. More importantly, he brings intent.

By his own account to the leadership, Lahiri wanted to return to what he does best in macroeconomics and policymaking rather than continue in electoral politics. That instinct aligns with what the government now expects of NITI Aayog—less theorising and more execution.

Lahiri’s appointment is a signal. Unlike his predecessor, he is not a public-facing economist. He is a practitioner shaped by years inside government and is familiar with the frictions that slow down policy implementation. His strength lies not in framing debates but in navigating the machinery that turns decisions into outcomes.

That logic extends across NITI Aayog’s new composition. The retention of former cabinet secretary Rajiv Gauba comes alongside the induction of sectoral operators— Abhay Karandikar, outgoing secretary, Department of Science and Technology, and former IIT Kanpur director; scientist Gobardhan Das, director, Indian Institute of Science Education and Research, Bhopal; economist K.V. Raju; and Dr M. Srinivas, director, AIIMS, New Delhi. It all marks a decisive shift.

These are not just policy thinkers. They are system managers who have run large institutions, dealt with bureaucratic inertia and worked through the complexities of execution. This NITI Aayog overhaul also signals a clear shift in the government’s thinking ahead of a probable cabinet reshuffle. The emphasis is moving from policy design to delivery. With greater weight on execution and growing focus on implementation, key ministries are likely to see tighter monitoring and a stronger push for measurable results, along with induction of fresh legs to push new ideas.

Describing the reshuffle, an official from the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) said this was not a team assembled to debate policy but one designed to implement it. More than 11 years after it replaced the Planning Commission, NITI Aayog is undergoing what is arguably its most consequential overhaul. This is not merely about new faces. It marks a deeper shift in the institution’s purpose, posture and power. At its core is a clear pivot from thinking reforms to delivering outcomes.

The impatience in New Delhi has been building for some time. After a decade of policy design, consultation and reform articulation, the central question is no longer what to do but how to make it work. When the Narendra Modi government dismantled the Planning Commission in 2015 and replaced it with NITI Aayog, the goal was to create a nimble and forward-looking institution that could inject fresh thinking into governance while anchoring cooperative federalism. For a while, that promise held. The Aayog became a hub of policy imagination, producing frameworks across sectors and convening stakeholders around emerging challenges.

Over time, however, a different perception took root. Long serving members, such as Ramesh Chand, V.K. Paul and V.K. Saraswat, provided continuity while later entrants such as Arvind Virmani added macroeconomic intellectual depth. Yet the criticism persisted. The institution was seen as heavy on reports and light on results. An ideological criticism persisted that the fresh ideas aligned with PM Modi’s push for self-reliance were not emerging from NITI Aayog. In Delhi’s policy circles, a quiet verdict began to take hold: NITI Aayog had become more of a policy salon than a policy engine.

The 2026 reset seeks to change that. It reflects the broader shift in the governance philosophy of the Modi government in its third term. The earlier terms were defined by structural reforms, such as GST, insolvency frameworks, financial inclusion and digital identity. These required conceptual clarity, stakeholder alignment and policy innovation. The current phase is different. The focus has shifted to scaling up manufacturing, strengthening state capacity, building infrastructure and integrating India into global supply chains. These are not problems of design. They are problems of delivery.

Delivery demands coordination across ministries, real-time monitoring, constant troubleshooting and administrative depth. By inducting bureaucratic heavyweights and sectoral leaders, the government is retooling NITI Aayog into an action-oriented institution that not only advises but drives execution. This is a subtle but important repositioning. Earlier, its influence rested on shaping policy discourse. Now, it will increasingly be judged by its ability to shape outcomes on the ground.

This transformation is not without risks. A more execution-driven NITI Aayog could accelerate project delivery and improve inter-ministerial coordination. At the same time, it may dilute the institution’s original ethos. Conceived as a platform for cooperative federalism, it was meant to amplify the voice of states in national policymaking. A more centralised and outcome focused structure, closely aligned with the PMO, could tilt that balance from consultation towards command.

There is also the question of intellectual space. Think-tanks thrive on debate, dissent and long-term thinking. An excessive focus on execution risks narrowing that space and reducing room for independent critique and experimental ideas. In becoming more effective, NITI Aayog could become less intellectually plural.

Calling this the biggest overhaul since 2015 is no exaggeration. It marks a generational shift in personnel, a philosophical pivot in function and a political repositioning within India’s governance architecture. More significantly, it signals that the government now sees NITI Aayog not merely as a think-tank but as a strategic lever of state capacity. The institution that once symbolised the end of centralised planning is now being reshaped into a mechanism for centralised delivery.

The real test lies ahead. Success will not be measured by the number of reports produced or consultations held, but by outcomes on the ground. Faster infrastructure delivery, fewer policy bottlenecks and tangible improvements in flagship programmes will determine whether this reset works.

If it succeeds, NITI Aayog will complete a rare institutional transformation from an ideas factory into an execution engine. If it does not, it risks being caught in an uncertain middle ground, neither a true think-tank nor an effective delivery arm. For now, the signal from New Delhi is clear. After a decade of thinking reforms, India’s premier policy institution is being asked to do something far harder. Make them work.

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