This is the introductory chapter of Contesting the Indian City: Global Visions and the Politics of the Local, which examines the changing dynamics of political power in Indian cities and their implications for the spatial and social development. In doing so, it addresses a relative lack of academic attention to the political economy of post‐liberalization Indian cities. The chapter develops a framework for analyzing urban political change in India through a review of both India‐specific and comparative literature on urban politics. Through a review of the studies in this volume and other recent literature on Indian cities, the chapter argues that the process of neoliberalization of Indian urban politics has progressed, albeit tentatively and incompletely, through two channels. A further ambition of this volume, beyond developing frameworks for understanding urban change in contemporary India, is to explore the implications of India's case for comparative studies of urban politics.