NIHAL CHAUHAN
Non-Resident fellow
Nihal Chauhan
Nihal Chauhan is a senior business development, policy, and strategy professional with extensive international experience. He 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 efforts to collaborate with the government to leverage technology for societal impact.
Prior to Google, Chauhan worked closely with the Chairman of the Tata Group, leading business development, policy, and strategy initiatives. He served as Chief of Staff to Dr. S. Jaishankar, former Group President of Tata Sons and India’s current Minister of External Affairs, and helped establish Tata Group's first Global Corporate Affairs team. Before Tata Group, Chauhan was a consultant with The Cohen Group, a strategic advisory firm based in Washington, D.C., and began his career as an associate with the International Marketing Headquarters of Hitachi Ltd. in Tokyo, Japan.
Chauhan 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.
Chauhan serves as a Board of Trustee for The Population Reference Bureau, a Washington D.C.-based think tank focused on global demographic, population, and gender-related issues. He is a member of the Executive Committee and chairs the Audit Council.
Schmidt Futures selected Chauhan as an International Strategy Fellow for Asia, a forum of rising leaders in geopolitics, innovation, and public leadership. The Trilateral Commission also awarded him a David Rockefeller Fellowship for his contributions to commerce and international affairs. 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. He completed his undergraduate studies at Ritsumeikan Asia Pacific University in Japan. Chauhan speaks Hindi, English and Japanese.