Mukesh Ambani, Kris Gopalakrishnan-backed Brookings Institution opens India centre

"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," it said in a press statement here.

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.

"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," it said. Vikram Singh Mehta, who until recently was the chairman of the Shell Group of Companies in India, will be the Chairman of Brookings India.

Brookings said the India unit had been made possible by the generous support of the Brookings India Initiative Founders Circle.

The current members of the Founders Circle supporting the Initiative include Nita and Mukesh Ambani (Reliance Industries), Rahul Bajaj (Bajaj Auto), Kris Gopalakrishnan (Infosys), Onkar S Kanwar and Neeraj R S Kanwar (Apollo Tyres), Rajan Bharti Mittal and Rakesh Bharti Mittal (Bharti Enterprises) and Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw (Biocon).

The list also includes Shyam S Bhartia and Hari S Bhartia (Jubilant Bhartia Group), Gaurav Dalmia (Dalmia Group), Steven A Denning (General Atlantic), Baba Kalyani (Bharat Forge), Rana Kapoor (YES

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