Nihal D. Chauhan

Biography

Nihal Chauhan is the Founder and CEO of Indo-Pacific Advisory (IPA), a Singapore-based strategic consultancy guiding global leaders on policy, innovation, and strategic initiatives across the Indo-Pacific region. A recognized authority in international affairs, corporate diplomacy, and technology policy, he brings over 16 years of cross-sector expertise spanning Asia, North America, and Europe.
 

Chauhan previously led trade policy for Google in the Asia Pacific region and managed policy partnerships for Google’s Government Affairs and Public Policy team in India, driving the company’s collaboration with government to leverage technology for societal impact.
 

Prior to Google, he worked closely with the Chairman of the Tata Group, overseeing business development, policy, and strategy initiatives. He executed the US-India CEO Forum, the UK-India CEO Forum, and other key dialogues involving India’s top business leaders. He also served as Chief of Staff to Dr. S. Jaishankar—former Group President of Tata Sons and India’s current Minister of External Affairs—helping establish the Tata Group’s first Global Corporate Affairs team.
 

Before joining the Tata Group, Chauhan was a consultant at The Cohen Group in Washington, D.C., and began his career at Hitachi Ltd. in Tokyo as one of the first non-Japanese professionals hired directly into the firm’s International Marketing Headquarters.
 

Chauhan is a Non-Resident Fellow with The Observer Research Foundation America (ORF America) and frequently comments on technology collaboration, commercial partnerships, trade, and innovation. He has represented Indian industry in numerous bilateral dialogues, advancing India’s commercial partnerships with the United States, Japan, South Korea, and Singapore, among others.
 

He serves on the Advisory Board of the GATI Foundation, established by The Convergence Foundation, and is a Board of Trustee member for PRB, a leading Washington, D.C.-based think tank focused on global demographic, health, and environmental issues, where he is on the Executive Committee and chairs the Audit Council.
 

Schmidt Futures selected Chauhan as an inaugural International Strategy Fellow for Asia, a forum of rising leaders in geopolitics, innovation, and public leadership. The Trilateral Commission awarded him a David Rockefeller Fellowship for his contributions to commerce and international affairs, and he was named one of the 100 Leaders of Tomorrow by the St. Gallen Symposium in Switzerland.
 

Chauhan graduated from the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University as a Fletcher Board of Overseers Scholar and Bosworth Fellow, and completed his undergraduate studies at Ritsumeikan Asia Pacific University in Japan. He speaks Hindi, English, and Japanese.