Massive changes in Indian Higher Education necessitate new ways of thinking from a sectoral perspective. A new vision for reconfiguring institutional transformation is an imperative. An institutional leader today faces myriad challenges, from meeting the financial targets to ensuring distributive justice and inclusive agenda of education. Such perspectives evolve through enhanced leadership, which essentially means enlisting and guiding the talents and energies of stakeholders towards achieving national and international educational goals. The challenge for higher education institutions to retain their academic autonomy in the wake of increasingly becoming similar to corporations is humungous and can be eased through deft leadership which leads to academic cultural change. A good leader can create new vision and deploy effective strategies to convert it into success depending upon his/her leadership style i.e. transformational or transactional. This neo transformative discourse to understand issues of competitiveness, efficiency and equity in governing and managing institutions of higher learning becomes non-negotiable. In the emerging paradigms of new institutionalism, the universities can harness both collegiality and responsiveness to stakeholders, aided by leaders who are able to create a clarity and unity of purpose within the system and an environment in which the institution and its people can excel. The higher education sector in India has leadership deficit both in theory and practice. The chapter tries to unfold some of the recent initiatives of the government of India and critically analyses its strengths and weaknesses for onward improvement.