From active collaborators to source of new regulatory politics: regulatory intermediaries in India

Abstract In the policy literature, the regulatory intermediary’s role has been analyzed to understand how they help achieve normative regulatory goals, like knowledge sharing, capacity building, and effective coordination. Yet, the “politics of” and “politics by” intermediaries are under-theorized. Drawing from the bottled water regulations debate in India, this article theorizes the complex relationship between regulators, intermediaries, and regulatory targets in delivering a contested commodity (bottled water) for mass consumption. Employing an interpretative approach, the article politicizes the roles of intermediaries. Intermediaries emerge as “knowledge brokers” and crucial political actors, and do not merely remain rational economic agents fulfilling the interests of regulators. Intermediation by different intermediary actors does not always reduce information asymmetry and generate coherent outcomes, in terms of agenda setting and effective enforcement. Regulatory intermediaries do create new politics around regulations, which may or may not benefit the regulatory beneficiaries, different kinds of regulatory takers, or serve regulatory objectives. More socio-political studies are needed to understand the effect of intermediation in different regulatory spaces and regimes (especially when informality is conceived as a regular feature and a norm rather than a state of exception) and their broader influence on society and policy-making.