Hi friend —

This month and next, as many as 900 million Indians will vote in the world's largest-ever democratic exercise. 900 million. And the impact of this election will be felt around the world.

OZY has already taken you to every state in the U.S., getting under the skin of the nation amid the fallout of the 2016 vote. Now we’re doing the same in India — bringing you a front-row view of the hopes and aspirations, challenges and crises that will shape the future of this extraordinary country and others besides.

Welcome to States of the Nation: India, OZY's latest in-depth project, which will see us report original features from every single one of India’s 36 diverse states and territories.

What have we learned so far? Well, we’ve explored Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s $100M search for a mythical river in the state of Haryana, and the innovators trying to save India's cities from air pollution by turning farm waste into sanitary napkins and cutlery. We've met the young Kashmiri exam whizz and poster boy who has now turned on New Delhi, and the textile worker fighting for the right to sit down.

Whether you're in Dubai or Detroit, Kinshasa or Kuala Lumpur, Toronto or Tokyo, the choices India makes matter:

• India is the world’s fastest-growing major economy and its sixth-largest overall.

• Many of the world's corporate titans — from former Pepsi chief Indira Nooyi to Google's current boss, Sundar Pichai — are products of India's education system.

• Its growing military will make India a crucial partner across Asia and Africa, as nations try to wean themselves from dependence on China.

• And its youth — two-thirds of India's 1.3 billion people are under 35 — means the country will be the world's largest human resources supplier.

Tracking what's new and next in a country with India's complexity — where food habits, clothes, language and weather change every few miles — is difficult. That's possibly why no other international publication has ever undertaken a project on the scale of States of the Nation: India.

When it comes to global powerhouses like India, let OZY be your competitive edge — and join us on this journey of surprising stories and stunning sights and sounds.