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Institutionalising the principle of behavioural economics can make governance more citizen-centric, outcome-oriented and fiscally efficient, Niti Aayog Vice Chairperson Ashok Lahiri said at an event..
While speaking at the inaugural Cheistha Kochhar Nudge Awards 2026, Lahiri said that the most important lesson he learnt from behavioural economics was not what a rational choice should be but how to make rational people actually behave.
He said Jan Dhan Yojana and the LPG subsidy reforms demonstrate applications of behavioural principles to sanitation, gender equality, financial inclusion, and subsidy delivery.
“India can institutionalise this approach through behavioural audits, field experiments, and the use of digital public infrastructure to test, measure, and rapidly scale what works. This can be Scale works. This can make governance more citizen-centric outcome-oriented and fiscally efficient,” Lahiri said.
The Cheistha Kochhar Nudge Awards, which have been instituted by New Delhi-based Indian School of Public Policy (ISPP) in partnership with the Cheistha Kochhar Foundation, honour individuals, teams, and organisations applying behavioural science to solve real-world social and governance challenges with empathy, integrity, and measurable impact.
Lahiri said India’s next frontier in public policy is not merely designing better schemes, but designing schemes around how citizens actually behave.
“Nudges can help bridge this gap by subtly changing the way choices are presented without taking away individual freedom,” Lahiri said.
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