The first New India lecture was delivered by the economist Jean Dreze at the India International Centre in New Delhi in December 2004. Dr Dreze spoke on 'The Right to Food'.

The second New India lecture was delivered in January 2006 by the historian and political theorist Sunil Khilnani. He spoke on the theme of ‘India as a Bridging Power’ at the National Institute of Advanced Studies in Bangalore.

The third New India lecture was delivered in March 2007 by the political scientist Yogendra Yadav. He spoke on 'The Paradoxes of Indian Democracy' at the Nehru Centre, Mumbai.

The fourth New India lecture was delivered in January 2008 at the India International Centre in New Delhi. The speaker, the Gandhian social activist Ela Bhatt, spoke on the fascinating journey of the organization she founded, SEWA.

The fifth New India lecture was held in Kolkata in March 2009, in association with The Telegraph. The distinguished sociologist Professor André Béteille spoke on the topic, ‘Towards an Inclusive Society’.

The sixth New India lecture was delivered in Bangalore in August 2010 by Professor Raghuram Rajan of the University of Chicago. He spoke on faultlines in the global economy.

The seventh New India lecture was delivered in Bangalore in August 2011 by Professor Rahul Mehrotra of Harvard University. He spoke on recent trends in Indian architecture.

Through 2005 and 2006, the Foundation ran an ‘Independent India’ lecture series in collaboration with the India International Centre, New Delhi. Twenty lectures were delivered, by distinguished scholars and analysts such as Professor Meenakshi Mukherjee, Dr Shankar Acharya, Lt. Gen. V. R. Raghavan, Urvashi Butalia, Dr Pratap Bhanu Mehta, and B. G. Verghese.

The New India Foundation has ongoing collaborations with the Centre for the Advanced Study of Asia at the University of Pennsylvania, and with the South Asian Program of Yale University. Each year, a fellowship holder of the New India Foundation is sent as a visiting scholar to these two institutions.