Why this early Google investor is funding think tanks in the U.S. and India

The importance of India to Fortune 500 companies will only increase in the coming years—the country boasts a young and well-educated population, anticipated GDP growth north of 6% every year for the next decade, and structural reforms that will boost the business climate in the world’s largest democracy.

It’s equally important that policymakers understand what’s going on. The rising importance of China over my lifetime spurred growth in scholarship—from experts at think tanks in both countries to the Schwarzman Scholars program at Beijing’s Tsinghua University that Blackstone CEO Steve Schwarzman launched a decade ago as an analog to Oxford’s Rhodes Scholarship.

Now, venture capitalist and philanthropist Asha Jadeja is investing in a similar academic infrastructure between the U.S. and India. (She and her late husband Rajeev Motwani of Stanford were founding stakeholders in Google.) I spoke to Jadeja this past weekend at a dinner marking the establishment of the Motwani Jadeja Institute for American Studies at OP Jindal Global University. She has also funded programs at Stanford’s Hoover Institution, U.C. San Diego, the Hudson Institute, the Center for a New American Security and, soon, Columbia University.

“When policymakers want information in making decisions, they pick up the phone and call Georgetown or Stanford. Similarly, if someone in Delhi wants to know how to deal with America on mineral rights or human rights, they need someone to call who has a serious understanding of those issues and access to data,” she told Fortune.

With Washington increasingly viewing China as not just a competitor but as an adversary, India is taking on a larger geopolitical importance. The next generation of CEOs and policymakers will need context and relationships created through education, familiarity and a shared understanding nurtured by deep scholarship.

Contact CEO Daily via Diane Brady at diane.brady@fortune.com

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From the analysts

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Wedbush on Tesla: “Now investors are seeing more of a ‘wartime CEO’ as Elon is laser focused on the Robotaxi expansion in Austin with more cities soon on the docket for this key autonomous initiative,” per Daniel Ives.

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CEO Daily is compiled and edited by Joey Abrams and Jim Edwards.