The core activity of the New India Foundation is the NIF Book Fellowships, awarded to scholars and writers working on different aspects of the history of independent India. From a large pool of several hundred applications, about 15-20 are shortlisted to meet with the Jury and about 5-10 fellowships are awarded.

Open to Indian nationals, including those currently living abroad, each Fellowship carries a grant of INR 18,00,000 (eighteen lakhs), payable as a monthly stipend of INR 100,000 (one lakh) for a period of twelve months, and the balance of INR 600,000 (six lakhs) payable on the submission of the final manuscript.

Fellowship holders are expected to write original books. Their proposals should be oriented towards final publication, and outline a road map towards that destination. The Foundation is ecumenical as regards genre, theme, and ideology: the only requirement is that the proposed works contribute to a fuller understanding of contemporary India. Thus Fellowship holders may choose to write a memoir, or a work of reportage, or a thickly footnoted academic study. Their books could be oriented towards economics, or politics, or culture. They could be a highly specific — an account of a single decade or a single region — or wide-ranging, such as a countrywide overview.