Academic Mukulika Banerjee and journalist Pragya Tiwari interview one expert each episode on India.
The India Briefing treats India as a country best understood through context, not headlines. Its London and New Delhi co-hosting frame brings long, careful conversations on subjects from GDP and minority rights to Mughal art, saris, and diplomatic rupture.
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The India Briefing is built around a single extended conversation per episode between its two co-hosts and one outside expert. Mukulika Banerjee, an academic based in London, and Pragya Tiwari, a journalist based in New Delhi, question guests across disciplines, moving from art history to economic policy depending on who is on. Guests in the sampled episodes include a historian discussing the V&A's Great Mughals exhibition, a publisher and author tracing the sari through post-independence Indian design history, a senior journalist analyzing the India-Canada rupture following the killing of Hardeep Singh Nijjar, a French political scientist presenting a multi-university study on Indian Muslims' socioeconomic decline, and an economist questioning official GDP growth figures. Episodes are structured as research-grounded discussions rather than debates or panels, frequently citing specific studies, survey data such as CSDS Lok Niti polling, and historical primary sources. Recurring subject areas include Mughal and colonial-era history and art, craft and textile traditions, minority rights and religious politics, regional economic disparities between north and south India, and India's foreign policy and intelligence affairs. The show assumes listeners already have some grounding in Indian politics and history rather than explaining basics from scratch. Typical episode length ranges from about 35 minutes to over an hour. There is no narrative or scripted segment; the format is consistently two hosts interviewing one guest per episode. Listeners with an existing interest in South Asian studies, policy, or long-form academic interviews make up the core audience.
Made for: Listeners already following Indian politics, history, or economics — students, policy analysts, and diaspora audiences who want extended expert interviews rather than news recaps.
What sets it apart: Each episode pairs an academic and a journalist co-host with a single subject-matter expert for one extended, research-grounded conversation, rather than a news-recap or multi-guest panel format.
The India Briefing for the India Curious. TIB offers a deep dive into India’s dynamic landscape. Hosted by academic Mukulika Banerjee and journalist Pragya Tiwari, this podcast delivers insightful updates on India’s politics, economy, and culture. Whether you’re studying, investing, or simply curious about the country, join us for crisp conversations and debates that decode India’s role in global affairs.
Based on 5 episodes we listened to · September 2026
Guest-led conversations connect India's immediate political questions with the historical, economic and cultural forces underneath them.
The India Briefing turns large questions about contemporary India into extended, guest-led conversations, with Mukulika Banerjee and Pragya Tiwari supplying historical and political context before pressing for detail.
A sari, Akbar's picture books, and GDP give you three unusually sharp lenses on modern India.
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Short reviews from the PlayNext desk, based on the episodes we processed.
A steady, policy-minded look at India's growth debate and the Economic Survey.
India Briefing treats the Indian economy as an open policy question rather than a settled story. Mukulika Banerjee and Pragya Tiwari bring in Arvind Subramaniam and move from GDP and the easy badge of "fastest growing" to a more useful question: how the Economic Survey should…
Mughal art, storytelling, and court culture are used to show why the past still feels present.
This episode uses the V&A's Great Mughals exhibition as a way into a larger point: Mughal court culture is not sealed off in the past, and it still shapes how India talks about medieval history and the present. Ira Mukhoti fits that frame well.
A sober, wide-angle look at the pressures shaping Indian Muslim life.
The India Briefing frames Republic Day around a serious question: what India's constitutional promise has meant for its largest minority. Mukulika Banerjee and Pragya Tiwari supply the historical setup clearly, then Christophe Jaffrelot brings four years of research that gives…
A clear case for the sari as everyday dress, modern form, and lived culture.
The episode treats the sari as more than fabric: it is workwear, public presentation, and a modern form that can carry more than one role at once.
A measured account of the India-Canada rupture and the domestic politics behind it.
This episode treats India-Canada relations as a political story first, and a diplomatic one second. The killing of Hardeep Singh Nidjar, the expulsions, the Khalistan question, and the pressure on both governments all stay in frame.
Dana Schwartz narrates the violent lives of monarchs, warlords, and queens.
Food52 hosts break down recipes and food-business origin stories, from sourdough to Salty Pimp cones.
Lillian Cunningham travels to five national parks to trace the human fights behind each landscape.
Where is the Indian economy going?
Historian Ira Mukherjee joins The India Briefing to discuss the V&A's 'Great Mughals' exhibition and what the Mughal court — which ruled 100 to 140 million people while Elizabethan England had only 3 million — reveals about India's medieval past and its cultural legacy.
India has just marked its 75th Republic Day, and Mukulika Banerjee and Pragya Tiwari use the anniversary to ask a hard question: can the republic still deliver justice, liberty, equality, peace, and fraternity to its largest minority?
The India Briefing hosts Mukulika Banerjee and Pragya Tiwari speak with publisher and author Malvika Singh about her book 'Saris of Memories,' which uses the sari as a metaphor to trace both her personal life and post-independence India's cultural revival.
October 2024 pushed a tense relationship into open crisis.