Open Access Realities and Regional Developments in India: A Policy Editor’s Perspective on India’s Leap into the Open Science Ecosystem

India’s commitment to Open Science represents a pivotal and obvious shift, moving scholarly communication from a cost-prohibitive, centralized model towards an inclusive, public-pocket-friendly framework. This perspective is characterized by a strong, decentralized, community-driven foundation that has culminated in ambitious, centralized mandates, most notably the One Nation, One Subscription model and the revised governmental quality control criteria. This strategic orientation aligns Open Access directly with macro-national goals, including the creation of knowledge work-force, for the explicit pursuit of demonstrable societal impact across political, health, cultural, and environmental arenas. However, the rapid policy adoption has revealed systemic friction points that threaten to undermine the equity goals of the initiative. Analysis indicates resistance stemming from three critical areas: Institutional Resistance from elite Higher Education Institutions due to the lack of an embargo option; Financial Inequality, where the rise of Article Processing Charges severely restricts open access publishing for researchers from lower-middle-income institutions; and Regional Capacity Gaps, involving the persistent digital divide, inadequate internet connectivity, and the technical challenges faced by state universities in maintaining sustainable Institutional Repositories. To ensure the successful realization of its Open Science vision, the immediate policy focus must shift strategically from merely mandating access to actively ensuring equitable utilization by addressing infrastructural deficits, standardizing publishing safeguards (like embargo periods), and integrating robust support for non-APC publishing models.