Gautam Chikermane is Vice President at the New Delhi based Observer Research Foundation (ORF). His areas of research are grand strategy, international relations, economics, and the Mahabharata. He speaks across the world on the rise of India, and tracks the strategic impact of the ongoing disruption in the rules based international order. Earlier, he was the New Media Director at Reliance Industries Ltd and has held leadership positions in some of India’s top newspapers and magazines, including Hindustan Times, The Indian Express, and The Financial Express. A Jefferson Fellow (Fall 2001), he is a student of India’s philosophical traditions and Sri Aurobindo. His latest publications include India’s Grand Strategy (ORF, 2024), Reform Nation (2022), and Reading Sri Aurobindo (Co-Editor, Penguin Random House, 2022). He also hosts The Rising India Podcast.