The think tank was co-founded by two academics at the University of Oxford in 2020,[1][2][3] "to continue the work of the original India League", itself founded in 1928.
[3][6][7] The 1928 Institute has run an online survey of British Indians, collecting socioeconomic data as well as information on political opinions, media representation of the community, religious identity, experience of racism and domestic violence, and the COVID-19 pandemic.
[2] One of the Institute's co-founders stated that "It seems that the Indian/south Asian population in general have been really falling prey to [misinformation] through things like WhatsApp forwards and fake news.
[1] Writing for Byline Times, Amrit Wilson wrote that "while the India League saw the struggle in India as part of a larger struggle against imperialism and racism – and included such socialists and anti-imperialists as Harold Laski, Bertrand Russell and Fenner Brockway – the 1928 Institute's list of 'notable members' includes a corporate billionaire who admires [Narendra] Modi.
[9] The Institute acts as the secretariat for the India (Trade and Investment) All Party Parliamentary Group, which was created in July 2022.