Anuj Gupta

Where policy and politics meet business in India

Anuj Gupta advises global corporations navigating India's regulatory, geopolitical, and policy landscape. He is one of India's most published voices on trade, energy, manufacturing, and growth.

He previously worked in 10+ Ministries in the Government of India as Chief of Staff to Minister Piyush Goyal.

About Anuj →
Anuj Gupta
Current Role
India Managing Director
BowerGroupAsia (BGA)
Previously
Officer on Special Duty, Minister Piyush Goyal, Government of India
Vice President, Tata Sons
Advisor, Government of Abu Dhabi
Strategic Decisions Group
KPMG
Education
IIT Madras
IIM Bangalore
Texas A&M University
Sectors
Trade · Finance · Energy · Manufacturing · Technology · Infrastructure · Startups · Geopolitics
Worked & negotiated trade deals in
India China Indonesia Kuwait US UAE UK Singapore DR Congo Australia Solomon Islands Netherlands Brazil Japan Thailand Switzerland Malaysia Germany

Policy insider. Business strategist. One of India's sharpest commentators.

Anuj Gupta is the Managing Director for India at BowerGroupAsia and has played a catalytic role in shaping India's economic and policy landscape. With extensive experience across government and the private sector, he brings a unique perspective to helping clients navigate India's complex policy environment and capitalise on emerging opportunities. Anuj understands how Indian policy and politics actually work — from inside government, from inside business, and from the intersection of the two — and translates what it means for business.

Anuj previously led public policy efforts at the Tata Group, advising more than 30 group companies across sectors including technology, financial services and manufacturing. He also served as Chief of Staff to the Hon'ble Minister of Commerce & Industry, Shri Piyush Goyal, gaining direct exposure across more than ten Ministries and over a decade in the Indian and Abu Dhabi governments.

During his government career, Anuj worked on issues spanning trade, investment, manufacturing, energy, technology, infrastructure and startups. He was closely involved in India's trade and investment agenda, including negotiations with Australia, the European Union, the UAE, the UK and the US, as well as initiatives related to production-linked incentives, foreign investment and regulatory reform.

Anuj also served as an advisor to the Abu Dhabi Government, working on policies in sectors like energy, environment, tourism and culture.

Earlier in his career, Anuj spent almost a decade in management consulting with Strategic Decisions Group (now Strategy&, formerly Booz & Company), and KPMG, leading strategy and implementation engagements across Asia and Africa.

Beyond his advisory work, Anuj is a commentator on policy, politics and business. His writing and commentary have appeared in The Wall Street Journal, The Hindu, The Times of India, The Economic Times, The Hindu BusinessLine, Mint, Financial Express, Hindustan Times and other leading publications. He has appeared on BBC, CNBC, NDTV, ABP, CNN, Republic, India Today and DD News, and has been quoted by PTI, ANI and IANS.

He has spoken at institutions including Stanford University, IIT Madras, IIM Rohtak, the Observer Research Foundation, India Foundation, the Public Affairs Forum of India and the Indian School of Public Policy.

Publications
The Hindu The Economic Times Hindu BusinessLine Mint Hindustan Times Moneycontrol Financial Express ThePrint Deccan Herald News18 Storyboard18 Swarajya Open Magazine YourStory OpIndia PTI
Channels
CNBC-TV18 NDTV India Today Republic TV CNN-News18 ABP News CNBC Awaaz DD News NewsX The Federal ANI IANS Geeta Sharma Podcast CNBC Awaaz Adda
Speaking Engagements
Hoover Institution Stanford University IIT Madras ORF India Foundation ISPP USIBC PAFI Logistics Shakti Summit NationBuilding Conclave Academy of Digital Health Sciences Health Parliament APAC Women's Cancer Coalition

Writings, 2025–2026

News18
India's EV Revolution Starts in the Basement
Open Magazine
India's Next Governance Reform is Structured Consultation
MoneyControl
India's GDP manufacturing data needs scrutiny — but the right questions matter
Economic Times
India attracts capital. Now it must build what the world pays royalties for
Storyboard18
Why Tukaram Mundhe Matters
Hindu BusinessLine
The missing element in India's rare-earths scheme
MoneyControl
India-UK trade deal's unique as it's not just about tariffs. It represents the source code of future agreements
Swarajya Magazine
When Mobility Becomes Market Access
MoneyControl
Assembling products is not enough; manufacturing prowess depends on upstream value addition
Swarajya Magazine
India's Unexpected Reconstruction Advantage
The Hindu
The real barriers to trade are no longer tariffs
Economic Times
When environmental rules stall housing, not pollution
MoneyControl
India's greatest fiscal opportunity exists in plain sight
Hindustan Times
Our highways are back on track
OpIndia
Twelve years of Modi government: A personal reflection on his leadership and working style
Deccan Herald
Inevitability myth stalls India's growth story
MoneyControl
Exporting innovation, importing regulatory delay
Swarajya Magazine
India's Industrial Future Depends on the Boring Stuff
MoneyControl
The 'Twin Khata' problem of startups
Storyboard18
The Soap, the Train, and the Wedding
Storyboard18
The Melody on Which the World is Dancing
YourStory
AI stands for attention impairment
Swarajya Magazine
When The Smoke Clears, India Must Be Ready To Play Its Part In West Asia
News18
The Ethanol Answer To India's Energy Emergency
Financial Express
When labour moves, economy follows
Storyboard18
From policy to power: Inside India's AI rise
Swarajya Magazine
How Property Rights Are Rewriting India's Growth Story
Swarajya Magazine
Why The Bhadralok Must Choose Growth Over Nostalgia
Hindustan Times
Road to a Naxal-free India
MoneyControl
Why India's slow energy transition turned out to be smart
Swarajya Magazine
India's Bureaucratic Hangover: Time to Retire the "District Collector"
Swarajya Magazine
When Old Rules Hurt New Farmers
MoneyControl
India's industrial stress in a $100 oil world
Swarajya Magazine
India's Quiet Revolution, Loud Ambition
MoneyControl
India's trade doctrine privileges comparative advantage over tariff asymmetries
ThePrint
How India's new labour laws are much better than the UK's
Swarajya Magazine
Modi Government's Social Sector Revolution
Storyboard18
What could not be contained was the hunger
MoneyControl
India-US deal's a great start, but follow-up on the day after is critical
Hindu BusinessLine
An ASEAN Answer for India's Data Centre Push
Mint
Let India's road-quality overhaul become the template for all infrastructure projects
Open Magazine
Trade: The Uses of Adversity
News18
India's Data Privacy Pivot: The Future Of India's Kid-Tech Rules
Financial Express
Ensuring Affordable Fuel for the Masses
News18
The Power To Prevent: India's Cervical Cancer Turning Point
News18
PM Internship Scheme: The Right Recipe For The AI Age
News18
PM Modi's Vision Sparks Global Race: Labelling AI Content For Safer Digital Future
Times of India
Passport to Justice: Can AI help cut pendency dramatically?
Hindustan Times
A gavel, a moment, and a steadfast leader to sail us through our G20 presidency
DNA India
Narendra Modi's Gujarat model is also about decentralisation of governance
Newslaundry
Educating India

Television and broadcast

CNBC Awaaz
Iran War — India's strategic calculus
May 19, 2026
ABP News
Inflation — panel discussion
May 17, 2026
CNBC Awaaz
Strait of Hormuz
April 13, 2026
ABP News
West Asian Crisis
March 9, 2026
DD News
World Energy Crisis
March 24, 2026
Republic TV
Shivalik Ship reaches Mundra Port
March 16, 2026
India Today
India-US Trade Deal
February 7, 2026
CNN-News18
India-US Trade Deal
February 7, 2026
Republic TV
India-US Trade Deal
February 7, 2026
NewsX
India-US Trade Deal
February 3, 2026
ABP News
India-US Trade Deal (Hindi)
February 3, 2026
News18
India-US Trade Deal (Hindi)
February 3, 2026
CNBC Awaaz
Budget 2026 (Hindi)
February 1, 2026
ABP News
Union Budget 2026-27 (Hindi)
February 1, 2026
ABP News
India-EU FTA (Hindi)
January 27, 2026
CNBC Awaaz Adda
Who will challenge America's Supremacy?
January 22, 2026
The Federal
Roads To Bridges, Why Is New Infra Poorly Made?
February 13, 2026

Speaking engagements, 2025–2026

IIT Madras
IIT Madras Technology Summit 2026
May 7, 2026
Academy of Digital Health Sciences & Health Parliament
Public Policy Leaders Programme
April 26, 2026
Public Affairs Forum of India (PAFI)
Strategic Convergence: Engagement with the Indo-Pacific and Africa
March 11, 2026
NationBuilding Conclave 2026
The Big Shift: Is India Entering Its Golden Economic Era?
February 14, 2026
NationBuilding Conclave
What does the common man get out of trade deals?
February 18, 2026
Observer Research Foundation (ORF)
Powering Viksit Bharat 2047
February 11, 2026
India Foundation
Electrifying Sectors, Greening Electricity
January 29, 2026
BGA Webinar
India-US Trade Deal
February 5, 2026
USIBC & APAC Women's Cancer Coalition
Catalyzing India's Cervical Cancer Elimination
January 8, 2026
Indian School of Public Policy (ISPP)
Interact with students of Postgraduate Programme in Public Policy
November 23, 2025
Hoover Institution, Stanford University
USIBC 50th Year Anniversary Event
September 10, 2025

Selected writing from Substack

Ideas
Walden, GTA and the Meaning of Freedom
Thoreau went to the woods to reduce his wants. GTA lets you indulge almost every conceivable one. Both are American. Both are expressions of liberty. The interesting question is what we do with it.
August 30, 2026
Life & Reflection
The Soap, the Train, and the Wedding
How a Maglev levitated my thinking. A personal essay on India's transformation told through one family's journey across decades.
May 21, 2026
Policy
Why India will overwhelmingly trump China and how...
China is the world's foremost expert on picking pennies in front of a bulldozer. A rude, really rude awakening is in order.
June 6, 2026
Ideas
Available to Myself
Why my phone is off for sixteen hours a day, and what those hours are for.
July 5, 2026
Technology
The AI Summit That Wasn't — Until It Was
It was the worst of AI Summits. And then it wasn't.
Feb 22, 2026
Ideas
What 500+ Books Taught Me About Thinking
The Hidden Mathematics of Reading — what a library of 500 books reveals about how the mind actually works.
May 27, 2026
Ideas
I Periodically Become Toxic
On changing your mind, standing alone, and why intellectual solitude is not exile.
May 19, 2026
Ideas
The Tyranny of Twenty Questions
On the radical value of curiosity — and why asking questions is the most subversive act in any language.
March 27, 2026
Infrastructure
Think Scale, Act Speed: How a 30-Year Infrastructure Crisis Was Solved in 1,000 Days
The story behind India's highway revolution — and the policymaking model that made it possible.
May 26, 2026
Policy
Forget New Delhi: Why the Future of Indian Growth is Decided by the States
The centre sets the rules, but the states set the pace. A case for decentralisation as India's growth engine.
May 28, 2026

Books that have shaped my thinking

Reading 100+ books a year for nearly five years has been the single most important thing that has changed my life. It has sharpened how I think, broadened how I see the world, and made me a better advisor, writer, and person. Everything else is downstream of this habit.

Books read per year
2021
37
2022
84
2023
100
2024
131
2025
126
2026
99 so far
Let's talk India strategy.
What's new
News18
India's EV Revolution Starts in the Basement
Open Magazine
India's Next Governance Reform is Structured Consultation
Economic Times
India attracts capital. Now it must build what the world pays royalties for