Innovations in Indian public administration

IMPACT

Public sector Innovations have been extensively analysed in the EU, the US and other countries. This article uses insights from the global innovation literature, and the database of the Indian Prime Minister’s Awards for Excellence in Public Administration (PMA), to fill critical knowledge gaps and help develop templates for successful replication across organizations and administrative jurisdictions in India and other developing countries.

ABSTRACT

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.

KEYWORDS:

• Drivers
• enablers
• government
• India
• innovations
• public sector
• survival

Acknowledgements

The author is grateful to the interviewees and all other respondents who provided information.