Public affairs in India now moves at platform speed
The consultation window and the news cycle used to be different clocks. They are not, and comms plans built on the old assumption arrive late.
SM
Span Media CommunicationsNew Delhi, India · 3 Jul 2026 · 6 min read
The traditional sequence gave a company weeks: a draft is published, industry responds, a position is formed, comms follows. What actually happens now is that the draft is being argued about publicly within hours of publication, and the public argument shapes the final text.
A position formed in week three is a comment on a decision
By the time the considered position is ready, the frame is set by whoever spoke first. That is usually not the most affected party, it is the fastest one, and correcting a frame costs several times what setting it would have.
What readiness looks like
- The position on foreseeable issues is written before the draft lands, not after.
- One named person can approve a public statement within the day, in-country.
- The regional legal review is scoped in advance for this specific case, because a general review will not finish inside the window.
Nobody loses these because they were wrong. They lose them because they were correct on Thursday.
