Federalism is at its core a system where the dual machinery of government functions. That is, in one system there will be a mixture of two governments: state government with the central government. India federalism characterizes as a distribution of authority around local, national, and state governments.
India has a parliamentary form of government which is federal in structure with unitary features.
Similarly in states, there is a Council of Ministers with the Chief Minister as its head, who advices the Governor.