Lokniti was partner with the King's India Institute, London in a research project on comparative state politics and public policy in India. The mandate of the project included:

• Embedding comparative methodologies in teaching and research programmes devoted to the understanding of contemporary India.
• Developing a framework for analyzing the interaction between regional political environments and policy processes in India.
• Overcoming some of the barriers to fieldwork for comparative research and encourage the inter-regional mobility of scholars within India.

The Oxford University Press has recently published a volume based on the research undertaken as a part of this project. The book titled Politics of Welfare: Comparisons across Indian States and is edited by Louise Tillin (of the KII), Rajeshwari Deshpande and Kailash KK. King's India Institute had organized a panel discussion on 16th February to launch the volume in London. Along with Louise Tillin and Rajeshwari Deshpande, Sunil Khilnani, Reetika Khera, Sandipto Dasgupta and James Manor were among the panelists.