NITI Aayog is the apex public policy think tank of the Government of India, and the nodal agency tasked with catalyzing economic development, fostering cooperative federalism, and moving away from bargaining federalism through the involvement of State Governments of India in the economic policy-making process using a bottom-up approach. It was formed on January 1, 2015, to replace the Planning Commission. NITI Aayog is developing itself as a state-of-the-art resource center with the necessary knowledge and skills that will enable it to act with speed, promote research and innovation, provide strategic policy vision for the government, and deal with contingent issues.

NITI Aayogs entire gamut of activities can be divided into four main heads: Policy and Programme Framework, Cooperative Federalism, Monitoring and Evaluation, and Think Tank, and Knowledge and Innovation Hub. The different verticals, cells, attached, and autonomous bodies of NITI provide the requisite coordination and support framework needed to carry out its mandate. The list of verticals and cells includes Administration, Agriculture and Allied Sectors, Aspirational Districts Programme Cell, Communication and Social Media Cell, Data Management and Analysis, Frontier Technologies, Economics and Finance Cell, Education, Governance and Research.

NITI Aayog has the twin mandate to oversee the adoption and monitoring of the SDGs in the country and promote competitive and cooperative federalism among States and UTs. The Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation (MoSPI) has already undertaken a parallel exercise of interaction with the Ministries to evolve indicators reflecting the SDG goals and targets. NITI Aayog in consultation with MoSPI has prepared a draft mapping of the goals and targets as an initial step.