TikTok lost one of its largest markets. Bike taxis spent months navigating regulatory uncertainty in Karnataka. Paytm Payments Bank faced restrictions that reshaped parts of its ecosystem. Online gaming companies had to rethink their business models. E-commerce platforms have repeatedly adapted to changes in India’s FDI rules. The circumstances were different in each case. The larger point for businesses is the same. Competition and market conditions are only part of the risk they face. Changes in the political and regulatory environment can alter the trajectory of a business just as significantly.
Indian boardrooms spend considerable time tracking customers, competitors, technology, margins and economic cycles. Politics rarely receives the same attention. Not electoral politics, but the politics behind policy: why an issue becomes important, which interests are shaping the conversation, how public sentiment affects government priorities, and why something that was acceptable for years can suddenly come under scrutiny. Often, these forces have been at work long before the eventual policy decision reaches a boardroom. The policy tells you what happened. Understanding the politics around it can help explain why it happened and what could come next.
Understanding how India decides
This is the premise behind Politics Behind Policy, a three-day closed-door residential programme by IMPACT Bharat, being held from November 20-22, 2026, on the outskirts of Delhi NCR. The programme was launched on October 2, 2026, on the occasion of Gandhi Jayanti. It has been built by practitioners with more than 14 years of experience across politics, government, campaigns, public affairs and entrepreneurship. Members of the team have worked with the campaigns of Prime Minister and multiple Chief Minister’s, across the country. They have also built and scaled organisations of their own.
“Most businesses are very good at responding once a policy changes. The harder question is whether they understood the forces that were building before it changed. Politics Behind Policy is about understanding that layer: how political priorities are formed, how decisions move through the system and how leaders can read the context around them,” said Diggaj Mogra, Founder, IMPACT Bharat.
Diggaj Mogra is a political strategist who has worked closely with the top leaders of the country and across state and mentors startups working at the intersection of technology, policy and government.
A 360-degree view of how India decides
The programme brings together people who have seen decision-making from very different positions within the system.
A former Union Cabinet Minister will discuss the political side of a decision: how priorities emerge, the pressures political leaders have to balance and what ultimately moves an issue up the agenda. The administrative view comes from former senior bureaucrats, including a former Principal Secretary to the Government of India. Their sessions will look at what happens after an issue enters government, how it moves through ministries and departments, and why implementation can sometimes look different from the original intent. A former Political Secretary to a Deputy Chief Minister will focus on the space between political leadership, bureaucracy and outside stakeholders, while senior political journalists will look at another part of the equation: how narratives develop, how signals from government are interpreted and the role media and public opinion can play around an issue. The business perspective comes from public policy leaders from major Indian companies, who will discuss how companies engage with the government, prepare for regulatory shifts and respond when a policy decision has direct commercial consequences.
Seen together, these conversations trace what can happen between an issue first acquiring political importance and its eventual impact on a company. The programme also moves beyond discussion. Participants will work through a Regulatory War Room, develop a Regulatory Playbook and build a political risk map for their own organisations. They will also look at the next 12-18 months through a political lens, with a focus on developments that could matter to their sectors.
Three days. Three questions.
The three days are organised around three questions: The Why – The How – The What Next!
The conversations will range from how politicians make choices and governments make policy to how power is exercised, how politics and media interact, and what happens when business, regulators and government come to the same table.
Politics Behind Policy is designed for founders and entrepreneurs, CXOs and senior leaders, investors and policy heads, particularly those entering regulated sectors, expanding across states, deploying capital or managing public affairs and government relations. Given the closed-door and off-the-record nature of the programme, speaker identities are shared only with confirmed participants.
“The most useful insight into how decisions get made is rarely shared on a public stage. People who have been inside the system speak very differently when the room is small and nothing is on the record. That candour is what we’ve designed for. Participants hear how decisions actually played out, the trade-offs, the pressures and the things that never made it into the file,” said Ruhi Kurele, Founding Member, IMPACT Bharat.
Ruhi Kurele has led communication and media strategy for national political parties. She has also worked with some of the country’s top media houses.
Participants also become part of a closed alumni community, with periodic briefings, political intelligence and a peer network of founders, CXOs and policy leaders. Politics Behind Policy is not intended to explain policies that are already public. Those can be read in government documents, reports and headlines. Its focus is on what sits behind those decisions, and giving business leaders a better understanding of how India decides.
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