The Design Thinking Umbrella for Inclusive Growth in India? Discussion and Case Study

India faces challenges in achieving sustainable inclusive growth. While business, finance, social and technical innovation and other reforms are necessary, stakeholder inclusion through participatory processes is essential for achieving inclusive development. Following decades of implementation globally, Human-centred Design (HCD) approaches are now being promoted in India as an answer to participatory and creative business, social and industry innovation, albeit less so as a tool for inclusive growth and innovation. However, there is a growing critique of HCD effectiveness, ambiguity about its role in the innovation process, and other questions. Enthusiasm in India for HCD and design thinking ignores this critique, and risks repeating history unless the benefits and limits of HCD for innovation generally and inclusive growth are understood. Following a review of the recent literature this paper identifies the role of HCD in an inclusive growth framework, highlights the real challenges, and presents an illustrative case of HCD application for slum redevelopment for discussion and development. This paper identifies design thinking as a vague umbrella term, highlights the need for an informed approach relative to inclusive growth, and suggests HCD is a potentially helpful adjunct to the complex process of inclusive growth.