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India has been a major recipient of international development assistance while also emerging as an important development partner to countries across the Global South. Over several decades, external development assistance has supported infrastructure, rural connectivity, livelihoods, urban services, water and sanitation, institutional development and public sector reform. However, the effectiveness of development assistance varies substantially across projects and sectors. This paper examines selected cases of development assistance in India that have produced documented positive results, with particular attention to the Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana, the JEEViKA rural livelihoods programme in Bihar, urban infrastructure supported by the Asian Development Bank and sanitation interventions associated with the Swachh Bharat Mission. Rather than treating financial assistance as the primary explanation for success, the paper identifies several institutional characteristics that appear repeatedly across the cases: alignment with government programmes, long-term engagement, investment in local institutions, community participation, measurable outcomes, adaptation and integration of external assistance into domestic systems. The paper argues that the most effective development assistance in India has generally operated as a complement to domestic institutions rather than as a substitute for them. The findings have implications for the future design of development cooperation in India and for India's own role as a development partner.