Innovations in Indian public administration

Using the database of the Prime Minister's Awards for Excellence in Public Administration (PMA) for 2005-2014, this article provides empirical insights into public sector innovations in India. Innovations are shown to transcend political changes-they are largely driven by the subnational and local governments. Crises, budgetary constraints, the cost effectiveness of IT-enabled public outreach and the need to ensure greater state legitimacy appear to be the main drivers of innovations. Although research on innovations has been growing, it continues to exhibit a largely Western emphasis, which this article begins to correct.