Deepshikha Dharmaraj

President, PAFI
Chief Executive Officer
Burson Group

With three decades of rich and diverse experience in public relations and integrated communications, Deepshikha Dharmaraj is one of the most respected leaders in the industry in India. Till recently, the CEO of BCW India Group, she now takes over as Chief Executive Officer, Burson Group India, which includes Burson Genesis, GCI Health India and Hill & Knowlton India. In this role she manages the overall business interests of Burson in India and implements its growth strategy encompassing people, clients and partners.

Deepshikha provides strategic counsel to the firm’s marquee clients and senior client leaders and is sought by them as a trusted advisor in good as well as turbulent times. A firm believer in conceptualising impactful campaigns, she champions creativity and measurement across the organization.

In her professional journey, Deepshikha has experienced every aspect of the business. After spearheading the communication mandates for some of the biggest clients at the firm, she led the regional expansion of the erstwhile Genesis PR in the west, setting up the Mumbai office in 1996 and Pune in 1998. She then went on to create the talent development framework as the Chief Talent Officer and Head of Learning and Development. As Chief Marketing & Growth Office, she led the acquisition and retention of key clients and built strong partnerships for new services and capability enhancements. And then combined all these roles as the Chief Business Growth Officer, before being named the CEO.

An active leader in India’s public relations industry initiatives, Deepshikha is a founding board member and currently the President of the India chapter of the Global Women in Public Relations (GWPR), a global organisation for senior women in PR and communications. She serves as the Managing Committee member and President of the Public Affairs Forum of India (PAFI). She also served as President of the Public Relations Consultants Association of India (PRCAI) in 2008. Passionate about bringing creative ideas and measurement into communications, she has been jury for numerous prestigious award shows, including Cannes PR Lions, D&AD Awards, SABRE South Asia Awards, PR Week Awards, Campaign PR Awards India, Fulcrum Awards and IPRCCA amongst others. Deepshikha has also won several awards and recognition, including, most recently being named PR Professional of the Year at Indian PR & Corporate Communications Awards (IPRCCA) 2023 and CEO Of The Year by e4m Women’s Achievers Summit & Awards 2023. She was also listed among the top 25 PR and Communications professionals by Reputation Today, among the 100 Changemakers of PR and Corporate Communications by Exchange4Media, and PR Professional of the Year, by Campaign PR Awards India 2019 and IPRCCA 2019.

Deepshikha holds a master’s degree in business economics from Delhi University and is a firm believer in nurturing new talent. She spends time with students of communication at institutes like the WPP School and Xavier Institute of Communications, teaching and learning from them. She frequently takes part in leadership training and brand communications workshops, as an experienced trainer and participant.

She lives in Mumbai with her husband Atul Suri and son Sohum, spending weekends exploring new coffee shops and places to hang-out, reading and indulging in some mind and body work with yoga and meditation.

Harish Krishnan

Past President & Co-Founder, PAFI
Managing Director and Chief Policy Officer
Cisco India and SAARC

As Managing Director & Chief Policy Officer, Cisco India & SAARC, Harish leads Cisco’s strategic engagement with National and State Governments of India on wide range of policy issues that concern Cisco in India - as an investor, globalization hub, seller and as a corporate citizen.

Harish actively participates in public policy forums in India and is a member of the Confederation of Indian Industry’s National Committee on Telecom, Executive Council of MAIT, Vice Chairman, American Chamber of Commerce in India (Northern Region), FICCI’s National Committee on Telecom and USIBC’s digital task force.

With over 22 years of experience in Public Affairs, Harish worked in IBM & Confederation of Indian Industry before joining Cisco in 2007.

BVR Subrahmanyam

CEO, Niti Aayog
Government of India

B.V.R. Subrahmanyam joined as Chief Executive Officer of NITI Aayog in February 2023.

B.V.R. Subrahmanyam has been in the Indian Administrative Service since 1987. In a long administrative Career, he has held positions at multiple levels in Manipur in NE India and in Madhya Pradesh. He was on the faculty of LBSNAA, Mussoorie, the civil service college of India.

He worked in the Prime Minister’s Office between 2004–2008 and 2012–2015, serving under both Prime Ministers Narendra Modi and Manmohan Singh. In this period, he was closely involved in shaping India’s development journey on the economic, infrastructure and social fronts. In between his PMO stints, he worked on the Board of the World Bank.

In 2015, he was sent as Principal Secretary of the Home Department in the Left Wing Extremism (LWE) affected state of Chhattisgarh. Over 3 years, he was instrumental in controlling LWE activities and violence through a 2-pronged effort on the security and development fronts. In 2018, Subrahmanyam was made the Chief Secretary of Jammu & Kashmir following the collapse of a coalition government. Over 3 years, he saw through the constitutional transformation of J&K, focusing on good governance and delivering development.

He worked as Commerce Secretary of India from July 2021 and retired in September 2022. During this tenure, he drove the restructuring of the department; accelerated free trade negotiations with UAE, Australia, UK, EU Canada, Israel and the GCC; rewrote the SEZ law; expanded the impact of trade to all regions of the country; involved academia in data driven policy making; and, prepared the ground work for setting up a Global Trade Promotion body.

B.V.R. Subrahmanyam published a book, Conduct in Government on conduct rules for civil servants, and a research paper, “Investment Incentives and Multilateral Disciplines.”

B.V.R. Subrahmanyam has a Master’s in International Law and Economics with Distinction from the World Trade Institute, University of Bern, an MBA with Distinction in Finance from the London Business School, and an engineering degree from the University of Delhi.

Chetan Krishnaswamy

Vice President, PAFI
Vice President, Public Policy
Amazon India

Chetan joined Amazon after an almost 7 year stint at Google. He comes with a wealth of public policy and business experience, working in some of the most demanding and challenging Indian corporate policy environments. During his time at Google, he built an exceptionally strong team, initiated many proactive partnerships with Central and State governments, and strategically re-positioned the company and its reputation in India across a diverse set of political and policy stakeholders, including at the very highest levels.

Prior to joining Google, Chetan was Director, Corporate affairs at Dell India for five years, and previously led Public Policy at Intel, including serving as the TA to the President of Intel. At Intel he won the Intel Achievement Award (IAA) – the company’s highest award. Less than 1% Intel employees win the coveted award. Chetan began his career as a journalist and has worked for some of India’s most renowned publications, including the Times of India, where he headed the newspaper’s technology bureau.

Chetan lives with his wife in Gurgaon, and has a son who is doing his undergrad at UC Berkeley. In his free time, Chetan likes to read (non-fiction), listen to Indian classical music, and, if the weather permits, “run a few miles”.

T. S. Vishwanath

Director General, Past President & Founding Member, PAFI
Co-Founder & Partner, VeKommunicate

As Principal Adviser with APJ-SLG Law Offices, he assists the Indian Government on some policy and regulatory issues and advices industry on the impact of global economic and trade policies. He also writes a regular column - Trade Matters – for the Business Standard.

Vaishali Chopra

Head – Public Affairs & Communications
Yara India

Heading Public affairs and Communications for Yara in India. A passionate Public policy and communications professional with two decades of experience across agribusiness industry including Bayer, Monsanto, Rabobank and UPL with a focus on public policy, policy advocacy, industry research, stakeholder engagement across the ecosystem.

Keen interest in understanding sustainability objectives across agricultural supply chains (farmers, processors, channel partners, input suppliers and offtakers), ways of processing and interpreting data to help navigate complexities of farming systems. Overarching aim being, productive new age farming could deliver economic growth for the country with positive environmental outcomes.

With an executive certification in public policy from ISB and a Strategic Leadership certification from Harvard University, she is a MBA with graduation in Agribusiness.

Ishteyaque Amjad

Past President PAFI and Co-Chairman PAFI Annual Forum
Managing Director, Policy & Government Affairs
Abbott Healthcare Pvt Ltd

Ishteyaque Amjad, Managing Director, Policy & Government Affairs, Abbott Healthcare Pvt Ltd.

He spearheads the practice and his charter includes government relations, policy advocacy, communications and sustainability. With a career spanning over two decades, Ishteyaque has had the opportunity to work across a diverse set of industries through stints in organizations such as Godrej Group, Coca-Cola India and South West Asia, Cargill, HCL and Essar Group.

As one of India's leading practitioners of public/corporate affairs, Ishteyaque is passionate about social issues and is a strong advocate for deploying business solutions to address societal challenges. He is often described as someone with a capitalist's mind and an activist's heart!

Ishteyaque serves on the Advisory Board of AIESEC India and has served on the Board of Management of TERI School of Advanced Studies. He has been a jury at the Cannes Lions the Festival of Creativity. He graduated with a Bachelor’s degree in Economics from Aligarh Muslim University and is also an alumnus of the Indian Military Academy, Dehradun.

With a flair for words, Ishteyaque prefers poetry and anecdotes as the perfect medium for storytelling. A skill he exercises often during fun weekends with his two boys, sipping a Coke Zero 'on the rocks'.

B.K. Shivakumar

Director (Exports) and Managing Director
Visvesvaraya Trade Promotion Centre
Government of Karnataka

Equipped with a Degree in Mechanical Engineering from Mysore University, Karnataka, Shri B.K Shivakumar, brings three decades of extensive and rich experience in senior leadership positions in the Government of Karnataka. He currently serves as Director (Exports) & Managing Director, Visvesvaraya Trade Promotion Centre (VTPC), the mandated nodal agency for the promotion of international trade from the State. In his current role, he provides fillip to export promotion initiatives, policies and strategies dedicated to the space.

In his rich career expanse in the past, Shri B.K Shivakumar served as Additional Director & Chief Operating Officer, Invest Karnataka Forum and was also the nucleus playing a key role in facilitating investors and coordinating events of a mammoth scale spanning Global Business Delegations, Conferences, Domestic and International Road Shows and the like. Having served in various positions, capacities and verticals across Industrial Development, Handlooms & Textiles, Karnataka State Handicraft Development Corporation (KSHDCL), he brings a profound appreciation of the ground realities and requirements of stakeholders.

In a previous role, spearheading as Managing Director, Karnataka Udyog Mitra, the investment promotion wing of the Government and as Joint Director (Projects), he was a catalyst instrumental in launching several initiatives for ‘Ease of Doing Business’ in the State. Among some of his key and successful contributions, he orchestrated Invest Karnataka 2016 Global Investors Meet, the 14th Edition of Pravasi Bharatiya Divas (PBD) 2017, Make in India- Karnataka Conference -2017, Global Investors Meet 2022 and the World Economic Forum, Davos 2022. He brings demonstrated track record of having clinched cardinal deals and investment proposals for the state at various editions of Global Investors Meets.

Shri Shivakumar’s specialities include fostering robust people and business networks and providing impetus to MSMEs to upscale. He has visited Mexico, Brazil, Dubai Poland, Thailand, St. Petersburg- Russia and Vietnam in the past as part of high-level delegation from Government of Karnataka for investment promotion.

Ajay Tyagi

Former Chairman
Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI)

Ajay Tyagi is a specialist in financial markets, with significant expertise in capital markets. He served as the Chairman of the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) from March 2017 to February 2022, overseeing regulatory measures to protect investors and promote the development of the securities market. His leadership at SEBI cemented his position as a prominent figure in the financial sector.

Prior to SEBI, Tyagi had a 33-year-long career in the Indian Administrative Service, holding key roles across central and state governments. He served as Additional Secretary in the Department of Economic Affairs and held positions in the Ministries of Environment & Forests, Petroleum & Natural Gas, and Finance in Himachal Pradesh. His academic background includes an engineering degree from Delhi College of Engineering, a master’s in computer science from IIT Kanpur, and a master’s in public administration from Harvard University.

Luis Miranda

Chairperson of the Board & Co-Founder
Indian School of Public Policy

Luis Miranda is Chairman of the Board & Co-Founder of the Indian School of Public Policy. He is also Chairman of the Centre for Civil Society and CORO and a Co-Founder of Take Charge, a mentoring programme for Catholic youth in Mumbai.

Luis spends his time connecting dots with his wife, Fiona; using their networks to help the organisations they are connected with. Fiona and Luis are also #LivingMyPromise signatories, where they have pledged to give away at least 50% of what they have to charity during their lives or in their wills. He is also on the board of Educate Girls and an advisor to non-profits like Sunbird Trust, 17000 Ft Foundation, Raah Foundation, RA Foundation, Atlas Network and SNEHA. At the University of Chicago, he is a Trustee of the University of Chicago Trust in India, member of the Global Leaders Group and the Advisory Council of the Rustandy Center for Social Sector Innovation at Chicago Booth and member of the Society Advisory Committee of the Leadership & Society Initiative. Luis is Chairman of ManipalCigna Health Insurance, Senior Advisor at Morgan Stanley and on the board of L&T Technology Services. He is also an advisor to L&T SuFin.

He has been involved in setting up 2 companies - HDFC Bank and IDFC Private Equity and two non-profits – Indian School of Public Policy and Take Charge. HDFC Bank is India’s most valuable bank today. Luis stepped down as CEO of IDFC Private Equity in 2010. In 2009 IDFC Private Equity was awarded Best Private Equity Firm in India by Private Equity International and Asian Infrastructure Fund Manager of the Year by Infrastructure Investor.

Luis blogs for Forbes, Thrive Global, IDR and Spontaneous Order. Luis received an MBA from the Booth School of Business at The University of Chicago and is a member of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India. He has received the distinguished alumni award from Chicago Booth, HR College and St Joseph’s Boys High School.

Fiona and Luis live in Mumbai and have two children who are following their passions. Their daughter works in theatre in New York and their son is doing research with the Inuit in the Arctic Circle.

Pranab Dhal Samanta

Executive Editor, Politics
The Economic Times

Pranab is a trusted byline in his chosen areas of national politics, governance, security and international affairs for over two decades. His column State of Play is a regular feature in The Economic Times. He has reported extensively within and outside India, including Pakistan, Afghanistan, China, Israel during his career, besides having led reporting teams across organisations. He was awarded the Ramnath Goenka Award for Excellence for his writings on the Indo-US nuclear deal.

Raman Sidhu

Past President & Founding Member, PAFI
Chairman, EBG Federation, India

He is an Independent Director on the Board of Selan Technologies & YPO-Gold South Asia, Senior Adviser to TMF-Group & to Accord senior executive search. He is a Life Trustee of the Foundation for Aviation & Sustainable Tourism & a Member of the Council of SpeakIn Bureau. He is a Member of the National Executive Committee of FICCI.

Mr. Sidhu’s career spanned over 3 decades as an Investment Banker & a Corporate Banker. He has also served as an Independent Director on the Boards of various MNCs including G4S & Deutsche Postbank Home Finance as well as PSUs such as BHEL, NHPC, IILFS & NTC. He has served as a Member of the Core Committee on Corporate Governance of 5 of the Ministry of Finance & Corporate Affairs.

He has in the past also served as a Consultant to the Industry Minister of Trinidad & Tobago on behalf of the Commonwealth Secretariat, London.

Mr. Raman Sidhu, FCA read Economic (Honours) at St. Stephen’s College, Delhi University. He qualified as a Chartered Accountant from The Institute of Chartered Accountants in England & Wales (ICAEW) & is a Fellow if the ICAEW & ICAI.

Rishi Chawla

Vice President – Corporate Affairs
Carlsberg India Private Limited

Rishi Chawla is currently Vice – President Corporate Affairs (Sustainability, Communications, CSR & Public Affairs) at Carlsberg India. Carlsberg is a leading European Beverages company with Pan India presence.

Rishi leads the Together Towards Zero & Beyond initiative of Carlsberg in India which aims to achieve Zero Carbon Emissions, Zero Water Waste, Zero Packaging Waste, Zero Farming footprint, Zero Irresponsible Drinking and Zero Accidents Culture.

He has 23+ years of experience in companies like Philips, Samsung, IBM, Vodafone, Cable & Wireless, Indiatimes, Data Access in various capacities.

Overview of Carlsberg India*

With a 176 years history Carlsberg is one of the largest Danish investors in India. Carlsberg Group in Denmark has unique history, heritage and governance structure owned by a not-for-profit Foundation that distributes dividends towards betterment of society, including in science, arts, and community projects.

In India it started operations in 2007 and now has a significant presence with 8 owned breweries with an investment of around Rs 2350 crores or $320 million. In addition, it has has 6 contract packers and 10 sales offices and employs approx. 2950 employees.

In Karnataka Carlsberg established its brewery in 2018 with INR 250Cr Foreign Direct Investment. This has provided large number of direct and in-direct jobs through our brewery, sales offices and through our trade partners, suppliers, and service providers. As a producer and supplier of beer, we take immense pride in our association with the State of Karnataka and remain committed to invest further. We take immense pride in serving the consumers of Karnataka with international quality beer.

Sustainability Initiative in Karnataka

In December 2023, Carlsberg Group and WaterAid, globally partnered to improve access to safe water, sanitation, and hygiene. The first project announced in India is a three-year water-replenishment program in the water-stressed Nanjangud Block of Mysuru, Karnataka and is expected to positively impact over 34 thousand individuals across the five Gram Panchayats- Thagadooru, Karya, Devanur, Badanavalu, Nerale. With 85,000 m3 water to be conserved in a year. We have more projects expected to be rolled out in India in the coming months.

Rahul Sharma

Past President & Founding Member, PAFI
Managing Director
US India Business Council (USIBC)

Rahul is presently the India Managing Director of US India Business Council (USIBC) and brings nearly 30 years of experience in media and public affairs to the table.

A former newspaper editor, Rahul has lived and worked in various countries. Starting his journalism career in India, he joined Reuters in early 1990s where he covered some of the biggest political and economic stories in the region before returning home as Editor, Delhi, Hindustan Times. In his last journalistic role, Rahul was Editor of the Dubai-based Khaleej Times, the oldest English-language daily in the Gulf region.

Formerly, Managing Director of APCO Worldwide, he was President, Rediffusion Communications and prior to that he was President, Public Affairs, South Asia, at Genesis Burson-Marsteller where he led policy and political campaigns. As a public affairs expert, he has worked with clients across sectors, advising them on policy and crisis issues. Rahul has written extensively on global and regional financial markets and economic issues. His subject interests include China, foreign policy and international relations, and he has contributed to various Indian and foreign publications.

An alumnus of the Indian Institute of Mass Communication, Rahul has a Masters in International Relations and Security from The Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at the Tufts University and a Masters in International Trade and Economy from Flinders University, Adelaide.

Suhasini Haidar

Diplomatic Affairs Editor
The Hindu

Suhasini Haidar is the Diplomatic Editor of The Hindu, one of India’s oldest and most respected national dailies (www.thehindu.com), regularly writing on Foreign policy issues, and hosts a weekly online show "WorldView with Suhasini Haidar" (Youtube playlist). Prior to this, Suhasini was Foreign Affairs editor and prime time anchor for India’s leading 24-hr English news channel CNN-IBN (2005-2014), and Correspondent for CNN International’s New Delhi bureau before that.

In 2015, she was the recipient of the most prestigious Indian print journalism ‘Prem Bhatia’ award, and has won a series of awards for her work in Television as well.

Over the course of her 28-year reporting career, Suhasini has covered the most challenging stories & conflicts from the most diverse regions including Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Libya, Lebanon and Syria. In India, she has covered the foreign affairs beat for over a decade and her domestic assignments include political profiles and in-depth reportage from conflict zones including Kashmir, where she was injured in a bomb blast in 2000.

Suhasini Haidar worked with CNN International from 1995-2005, regularly reporting from India, Pakistan, Nepal, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh.She was part of the CNN team that won the Columbia-Dupont Broadcast Journalism Award in 2005 for coverage of the tsunami in India, and worked for CNN.com in New York for a month during its 9/11 coverage.

Suhasini began her career in journalism as an intern at CNN's United Nation's bureau in New York in 1994, after which she joined CNN New Delhi bureau as a producer in April 1995.

Suhasini earned a Bachelor's degree at Lady Shriram College in Delhi, and then completed her Masters in Broadcast Journalism at Boston University's College of Communication, USA. She lives in Delhi with her husband Nadim and her two daughters Ava Mumtaz and Maya Mehr.

During Covid, Navika was mandated to launch the Hindi news channel under the Times Network brand. Under her leadership, the Hindi news channel has built a strong affinity with the viewers and advertisers alike, within a year of its launch. In her role as the Group Editor of Times Network, Navika drives the Editorial strategy for the Network’s news brands and its digital entity, www.timesnownews.com, besides leading the content direction of all Political & Policy led IPs of the Network. An integral part of the Network’s flagship brand, TIMES NOW since inception, Navika anchors the primetime show ‘The Newshour’ @ 9 pm & the popular interview format show ‘Frankly Speaking’ on Times Now & now ‘Sawal Public Ka’ on Times Now Navbharat @ 8 pm every weeknight. Navika is the only Woman Editor in the Television space in National media today.

Navika has been recognized with Prem Bhatia Memorial Trust award in 2006 for her exemplary political reportage and ENBA awards for Best Anchor.

Shyam Saran

Former Foreign Secretary of India and
Prime Minister’s Special Envoy for Nuclear Affairs and Climate Change

Shyam Saran is a former Foreign Secretary of India and has served as Prime Minister’s Special Envoy for Nuclear Affairs and Climate Change. After leaving government service in 2010, he has headed the Research and Information System for Developing Countries, a prestigious think tank focusing on economic issues(2011-2017) and was Chairman of the National Security Advisory Board under the National Security Council from 2013 to 2015. Shyam Saran is currently the President of the India International Centre and a Honorary senior Fellow with the Centre for Policy Research. His book, “How India Sees the World” was published in September 2017. He has now published his second book, “How China Sees India and the World.”

On January 26, 2011, Shyam Saran was awarded the Padma Bhushan by the President of India for his contribution to Civil Service. The Padma Bhushan is the third highest national award in the country.

The Emperor of Japan decorated him with the Spring Order, Gold and Silver Star on July 30, 2019, for his services to promoting India-Japan Relations.

Arun Singh

Former Ambassador of India to the United States, France and Israel

Ambassador Arun Singh has extensive experience across the globe, including as India’s Ambassador to the United States, Israel, and France. Throughout his distinguished 37-year career in the Indian Foreign Service, Ambassador Singh has served during pivotal periods in key global capitals, and was instrumental in shaping India’s policies, notably the continued progress in the US-India relationship; India’s closer ties to Israel; and the formulation and implementation of India’s policies related to Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Iran, including in the period following 9/11.

Ambassador Singh is currently a Visiting Professor at Ashoka University, a Distinguished Non-Resident Senior Fellow in the Asia Program at The German Marshall Fund of US and at Carnegie India. In the spring of 2017, Ambassador Singh taught courses on US Foreign Policy in South Asia and Current Global Trends and Challenges at both American University and the School of Advanced International Studies at Johns Hopkins University. He was also a Distinguished Visiting Professor at Emory University, and the Center for Advanced Study of India at the University of Pennsylvania. He was a Member of India’s National Security Advisory Board over 2021-22.

Ambassador Singh holds a Masters Degree in Economics from Delhi University, where he specialized in econometrics, development policy, macroeconomics, and Indian economic history.

Manjeev Puri

Former Ambassador of India to the European Union and Nepal

Manjeev Singh Puri is a former Indian Ambassador. He joined the Indian Foreign Service in 1982 and served as Ambassador of India to the European Union, Belgium, Luxembourg (2013-2017) and Nepal (2017-2019). He has also served as Ambassador/Deputy Permanent Representative of India to the UN from 2009-2012, a period during which India was on the Security Council. Prior to that, from 2005-2009, he headed the division in the Ministry of External Affairs dealing with UN issues on the social and economic side. In addition, he has served twice in Germany (in Bonn and Berlin), in Cape Town, Muscat, Bangkok and Caracas. He retired on 31 December 2019 in the rank of Secretary, Government of India.

Major areas of his experience relate to multilateralism (UN), Europe and Nepal and he was involved as a lead member of the Indian delegation at numerous global negotiations on, migration, human rights and UN reforms. His professional focus has been on issues relating to the environment, climate change and sustainable development. He was a lead negotiator for India at the UN on issues relating to the post 2015 development agenda, Sustainable Development Goals and at the UN Conference on Sustainable Development held in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil in June 2012. He was a key member of India's delegation at various Climate Change negotiations, including the Conference of Parties of the UNFCCC in Copenhagen in December 2009 and before that at Montreal, Bali, Bonn and Poznan. Furthermore, he was involved with India's participation in the G8-G5 Summits from 2005 and was the point-person for the Major Economies Forum.

Ambassador Puri has a Masters’ degree in Management and did his BA (Honours) in Economics from St. Stephen's College, Delhi. He is presently Distinguished Fellow at The Energy and Resources Institute (TERI) and a Distinguished Visiting Fellow with the Ananta Centre.

Medha Girotra

Secretary, PAFI
Vice President - Communications, Asia Pacific
Mastercard

An advocacy specialist, Medha heads Public Policy and CSR for South Asia at Mastercard. With a strong background in reputation management, Medha is spearheading Mastercard’s various collaborations with the government and non-government agencies towards accelerating digital adoption, improving credit access to the underbanked and leveraging new emerging technologies for inclusive growth.

An industry veteran with over 20 years in work experience, Medha believes that awareness and knowledge are as critical as access to new solutions and all three are at the core of rapid adoption of new technologies as well as in enhancing credit facilities to people at large across all sections of society.

A firm supporter of evidence-based advocacy, Medha is a key driver across several projects at Mastercard in partnership with the government, think tanks and academia to evaluate and assess the lacunae in digitisation and credit access of MSME’s, farmers, and artisans with a special focus on women entrepreneurs, a topic close to her heart.

Her other focus areas of work include spreading awareness and encouraging adoption of safe and secure platforms given the rapid digitisation especially in financial services industry. A strong advocate of ‘emerging technologies for inclusive growth’ she feels any technological deployment in financial services must be open, equitable and must lead to ease of living.

Ishteyaque Amjad

Past President PAFI and Co-Chairman PAFI Annual Forum
Managing Director, Policy & Government Affairs
Abbott Healthcare Pvt Ltd

Ishteyaque Amjad, Managing Director, Policy & Government Affairs, Abbott Healthcare Pvt Ltd.

He spearheads the practice and his charter includes government relations, policy advocacy, communications and sustainability. With a career spanning over two decades, Ishteyaque has had the opportunity to work across a diverse set of industries through stints in organizations such as Godrej Group, Coca-Cola India and South West Asia, Cargill, HCL and Essar Group.

As one of India's leading practitioners of public/corporate affairs, Ishteyaque is passionate about social issues and is a strong advocate for deploying business solutions to address societal challenges. He is often described as someone with a capitalist's mind and an activist's heart!

Ishteyaque serves on the Advisory Board of AIESEC India and has served on the Board of Management of TERI School of Advanced Studies. He has been a jury at the Cannes Lions the Festival of Creativity. He graduated with a Bachelor’s degree in Economics from Aligarh Muslim University and is also an alumnus of the Indian Military Academy, Dehradun.

With a flair for words, Ishteyaque prefers poetry and anecdotes as the perfect medium for storytelling. A skill he exercises often during fun weekends with his two boys, sipping a Coke Zero 'on the rocks'.

Chetan Krishnaswamy

Vice President, PAFI
Vice President, Public Policy
Amazon India

Chetan joined Amazon after an almost 7 year stint at Google. He comes with a wealth of public policy and business experience, working in some of the most demanding and challenging Indian corporate policy environments. During his time at Google, he built an exceptionally strong team, initiated many proactive partnerships with Central and State governments, and strategically re-positioned the company and its reputation in India across a diverse set of political and policy stakeholders, including at the very highest levels.

Prior to joining Google, Chetan was Director, Corporate affairs at Dell India for five years, and previously led Public Policy at Intel, including serving as the TA to the President of Intel. At Intel he won the Intel Achievement Award (IAA) – the company’s highest award. Less than 1% Intel employees win the coveted award. Chetan began his career as a journalist and has worked for some of India’s most renowned publications, including the Times of India, where he headed the newspaper’s technology bureau.

Chetan lives with his wife in Gurgaon, and has a son who is doing his undergrad at UC Berkeley. In his free time, Chetan likes to read (non-fiction), listen to Indian classical music, and, if the weather permits, “run a few miles”.

Vini Mahajan

Secretary, Department of Drinking Water and Sanitation
Ministry of Jal Shakti
Government of India

Ms. Vini Mahajan, IAS (Punjab: 1987) is serving as Secretary in the Ministry of Jal Shakti, Department of Drinking Water and Sanitation, with effect from January 2022. This Department is responsible for two flagship programmes viz. Jal Jeevan Mission and Swachh Bharat Mission (Grameen).

Ms. Mahajan holds an MBA from Indian Institute of Management (IIM) Calcutta, where she was placed on the Roll of Honour, and a B.A. (Honours) in Economics from Lady Shri Ram College (LSR), Delhi University.

She has served as the first woman Chief Secretary of Punjab and has also led several crucial offices in the State such as Departments of Housing & Urban Development, Revenue, Industries & Commerce, IT and Investment Promotion, Health and Finance.

Ms. Mahajan served as Director and then Joint Secretary to the Prime Minister of India from 2005-2012, and earlier in 2004-05 as Director in the Department of Economic Affairs, Ministry of Finance.

Ms. Mahajan has received numerous academic awards, including the National Talent Search Scholarship. She was a Hubert Humphrey fellow based at American University in Washington DC in 2000 –2001.

Apurva Chandra

Secretary
Ministry of Health & Family Welfare
Government of India

Shri Apurva Chandra assumed the charge of Office of Secretary, Ministry of Health & Family Welfare (MoHFW), Government of India on 2nd January, 2024

Shri Apurva Chandra joined the Indian Administrative Service (IAS) in 1988 and belongs to the Maharashtra Cadre. A Civil Engineer, Shri Chandra obtained his Bachelor's Degree in Civil Engineering and Masters in Structural Engineering from IIT Delhi. He has long experience of dealing with issues relating to industries while working in the Government of Maharashtra and the Government of India.

Prior to joining MoHFW, Shri Apurva Chandra was Secretary of Ministry of Information & Broadcasting. He spearheaded the Ministry’s key policy issues on matters related to outreach, broadcasting, stakeholder partnership and collaboration with the Media and Entertainment Sector.

Shri Chandra has worked as Principal Secretary (Industries) in Government of Maharashtra for over four years from 2013 to 2017. During this period, Maharashtra led the country in attracting FDI and other investments. Shri Chandra was instrumental in a slew of new policies like electronic policy, retail policy, a single-window policy to attract new investments. The first smart industrial township under the Delhi-Mumbai Industrial Corridor (DMIC) was operationalised at Aurangabad under the leadership of Shri Chandra. During this tenure, leading industrial players like General Electric, General Motors, Volkswagen, Mercedes, Fiat Chrysler, Mahindra, Posco, Emerson, LG, Haier etc. invested in Maharashtra

Shri Chandra has spent several years in the Ministry of Petroleum & Natural Gas and Ministry of Defence in the Government of India. During his stint as DG (Acquisition) in Ministry of Defence, he was instrumental in bringing out the Defence Acquisition Policy, 2020 which laid emphasis on indigenization of weapon systems.

Shri Chandra has also chaired the Governing Body of ILO during the difficult period of Covid.

Dammu Ravi

Secretary (Economic Relations)
Ministry of External Affairs
Government of India

Mr. Dammu Ravi joined the Indian Foreign Service in 1989. He served in Indian Missions abroad in Mexico, Cuba, Brussels in various capacities from 1991 to 2001. He served at Headquarters in Ministry of External Affairs as Deputy Secretary/Director in West Europe and UN Divisions from 2001 to 2006. He served as Private Secretary to Minister of Tourism and Culture from March 2006 to May 2009. He was Joint Secretary in the Ministry of External Affairs responsible for India’s relations with Latin America and Caribbean countries from October 2009 to December 2013.

He served in Ministry of Commerce as Joint Secretary from January 2014 to February 2020 where he handled India’s Trade Policy, including WTO issues such as trade disputes, NAMA, fisheries negotiations, trade policy review etc. He was part of Indian delegation to WTO Ministerial Conference in Nairobi (MC X) in November 2015 and (MC XI) in Buenos Aires in December 2017. He also handled India’s trade and investment relations with regional groups such as G20, BRICS, Commonwealth, SCO, APEC, IORA, ASEM, UNCTAD etc. He was India’s chief negotiator in the mega regional free trade agreement ‘Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP)’.

On return to Ministry of External Affairs in March 2020, he was appointed as Additional Secretary (COVID & Europe).

Currently, he is Secretary (Economic Relations) in Ministry of External Affairs.

He holds a Masters Degree in Political Science from Jawaharlal Nehru University, Delhi. He has published research papers on trade matters:

1. Standardizing India’s Exports
2. Liberalizing India’s Agriculture Markets
3. Evolution of India’s Trade Negotiations
4. Decoding Indian Economic Diplomacy
5. 50 book reviews on geo-strategic and Economic issues

Mr. Dammu Ravi is married and has a daughter.

Dr. Arunish Chawla

Secretary, Department of Pharmaceuticals
Ministry of Chemicals & Fertilizers
Government of India

Arunish Chawla, IAS, a 1992-batch officer from the Bihar cadre, is the Secretary, Department of Pharmaceuticals, Ministry of Chemicals and Fertilizers, since 1 November 2023. Prior to this, he served as Officer on Special Duty in the same department. Throughout his distinguished career, Chawla has held several key positions, including Additional Chief Secretary of Planning and Development, with additional responsibilities as Secretary of the Bihar State Planning Board and Project Director of the Bihar Disaster Rehabilitation and Reconstruction Society. He also led urban development efforts as Additional Chief Secretary, Urban Development and Housing, and served as Managing Director of Patna Metro Rail Corporation.

In addition to his national roles, Chawla gained international experience as a Senior Economist at the Institute of Capacity Development of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) in Washington, D.C., where he served for two years starting in 2020. As of August 2024, he has also been assigned additional charge as Secretary of the Ministry of Culture.

Sanjay Jaju

Secretary
Ministry of Information and Broadcasting
Government of India

Sanjay comes from the 1992 batch of Indian Administrative Service. He has taken over the charge of Secretary, Ministry of Information & Broadcasting on 5th February, 2024.

Sanjay is a Post Graduate Mechanical Engineer and a Cost & Management Accountant by background and has completed MBA in Finance. He has worked in diverse areas like Defence, Urban, Infrastructure, Civil Supplies, Education, Tribal Welfare, Information Technology.

He worked as Additional Secretary in the Department of Defence Production in the Ministry of Defence in the Government of India and looked after the policies for bringing in investments and growth in Defence and Aerospace sectors to advance the “Make in India” resolve. He has also been instrumental in setting up Defence Innovation Organisation & iDEX for creating a collaborative platform for Startups to meet Defence requirements and has been conferred the prestigious Prime Minister's Award for Excellence in Public Administration, 2021 on 21 April 2022 during the Civil Services Day. He played a huge role in successful corporatization of Ordnance Factory Board, a long pending reform needed to improve the functioning of these factories established over 200 years back.

He has been the founding Director of the National Highways & Infrastructure Development Corporation Limited (NHIDCL) in the Ministry of Road Transport & Highways, GoI to fast pace infrastructure creation on the borders and strategic areas.

He had earlier worked as Secretary to Government of Andhra Pradesh in Information Technology & Communications and Food and Civil Supplies Department and led the programme to complete Aadhaar registration of the residents of erstwhile Andhra Pradesh from start to finish.

He has been an ardent advocate of Information Technology for Development and Governance, he successfully led various projects - ‘MeeSeva’ a comprehensive flagship initiative for delivering host of G2C services in AP (2011), INAMPRO, INFRACON in NHIDCL (2017), DEFEXIM (2021). Many of these have been awarded National e-Governance Awards by Government of India. He has worked as Municipal Commissioners in Hyderabad & Visakhapatnam

Rakesh Dubey

Member, Managing Committee, PAFI
Director - Global Government Affairs
The Carlyle Group

Rakesh Dubey is Director – Global Government Affairs with the Carlyle Group, focusing on policy advocacy, engagement with government and stakeholders. Prior to joining Carlyle, Rakesh was leading Public and Government Affairs for Bayer Crop Science in Asia-Pacific building strategic partnerships with stakeholders in government, industry chambers, customers and peer industry partners on climate smart agriculture initiatives and sustainable growth models for small-holder farmers. Rakesh led the Policy and Government Affairs for Monsanto in India before his role at Bayer. He has contributed to industry for more than 25 years leading Stakeholder Engagement, R&D strategy and investments, Technology Commercialization and Business Development functions. He has a bachelor’s and master’s in agriculture from G. B. Pant University of Agriculture and Technology, India, and MS in Genetics from Texas A&M University.

Harish Krishnan

Past President & Co-Founder, PAFI
Managing Director and Chief Policy Officer
Cisco India and SAARC

As Managing Director & Chief Policy Officer, Cisco India & SAARC, Harish leads Cisco’s strategic engagement with National and State Governments of India on wide range of policy issues that concern Cisco in India - as an investor, globalization hub, seller and as a corporate citizen.

Harish actively participates in public policy forums in India and is a member of the Confederation of Indian Industry’s National Committee on Telecom, Executive Council of MAIT, Vice Chairman, American Chamber of Commerce in India (Northern Region), FICCI’s National Committee on Telecom and USIBC’s digital task force.

With over 22 years of experience in Public Affairs, Harish worked in IBM & Confederation of Indian Industry before joining Cisco in 2007.

Sukumar Ranganathan

Editor-in-Chief
Hindustan Times

Sukumar Ranganathan is the Editor-In-Chief of Hindustan Times. He was previously editor of Mint, of which he was one of the founding editors in 2006, and which he edited between 2008 and 2017. He has previously worked in editorial leadership roles at The Hindu Businessline and Business Today.

Sukumar, who has degrees in chemical engineering, math, and business administration is interested in mathematics, science and technology, the history of business, new media, and data-based political journalism. He reads and collects comic books and is an amateur birder.

Jyotiraditya M. Scindia

Minister of Communications
Minister of Development of North Eastern Region
Government of India

Mr. Jyotiraditya M. Scindia has been recently appointed as the Union Minister of Communications; and Development of North Eastern Region (DoNER), Government of India. He is a six-term Member of Parliament, which includes five terms in the Lok Sabha (2002-04, 2004-09, 2009-14, 2014-19, 2024-2029), and one term in the Rajya Sabha (2020-2024) representing the state of Madhya Pradesh. During the Lok Sabha 2024 elections and Vidhan Sabha 2023 elections, he was appointed as the star campaigner for Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in the state of Madhya Pradesh. He is also the Member of the BJPElection Management Committee and the Core Committee of BJPin Madhya Pradesh

From 2014 to 2020 he was the Member of the Congress Working Committee (CWC) and from 2019-2020 as the General Secretary of the All India Congress Committee (AICC) he took charge for Uttar Pradesh West. From 2014-2019, he was appointed as Chief Whip of Congress in the Lok Sabha and also served as the Chairman of the Election Campaign Committee during the 2013 and 2018 Madhya Pradesh Assembly elections

Mr. Scindia began his journey in public service in 2002. In his tenure as the Union Minister of Civil Aviation and Steel (from 2021 to 2024), Mr. Scindia played an instrumental role in incorporating substantial improvements in the aviation sector, enhancing connectivity and infrastructure across the country. His tenure saw initiatives aimed at modernizing airports and increasing accessibility to remote areas, thereby boosting economic growth and tourism. As Minister of Steel, Mr. Scindia has been pivotal in driving policies that strengthen the steel industry, ensuring it remains competitive on the global scale and contributes robustly to India's economic framework. He also made dedicated efforts to boost the green steel sector in India.

From 2007-2009, he served as the Minister of State forTelecommunications, Posts and IT; from 2009-2012 as the Minister of State for Commerce and Industry, and then, from 2012-2014 as Minister of Power (Independent Charge). Mr Scindia’s tenure as Minister of State for Telecommunications, Posts and IT ushered in the transformational Project Arrow that modernized the Indian post offices through new branding and IT-enabled procedures. In his tenure as Minister of State for Commerce and Industry, he successfully brought down transaction costs in Indian exports at various levels - right from the stage of production to the end customer. Additionally, as Minister of Power (Independent Charge), he led the establishment of a unified transmission grid network i.e. One Nation One Grid with a 6-sigma reliability system, linkages for powerplants, and resolved last-mile distribution issues in collaboration with State Governments. Mr. Scindia has also been a member of Parliamentary Committees on Education, Women, Children, Youth and Sports; Defence; Finance; Home and External Affairs

Mr. Scindia completed his schooling from the Doon School, Dehradun. He holds a Bachelor’s degree in Economics from Harvard University, USA and an MBA degree from the Graduate School of Business, Stanford University, USA. Besides, Mr. Scindia has also worked at the United Nations, and as an investment banker at Morgan Stanley and Merrill Lynch.

Apart from his political roles, Mr Scindia is passionate about education. He is currently serving as the President of the Board of Governors at the Scindia School (Gwalior), Madhav Institute of Technology & Sciences (Gwalior), and Samrat Ashok Technological Institute (Vidisha). He is also a Board Member for Scindia Kanya School (Gwalior) and Saraswati Sishu Mandir (Gwalior).

With an avid interest in cricket, he has served as the Member of the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI), and as the Chairman of the Finance Committee and Member of the Disciplinary Committee of BCCI. For two years from 2014-16, he was the Member of the Governing Council for the Indian Premier League (IPL). He has acted as the Former President and Chairman of the Madhya Pradesh Cricket Association (MPCA) and also represented MPCAin the BCCI.

Ajay Khanna

Co-Founder, PAFI & Chairman Emeritus PAFI Annual Forum
Group Strategic Advisor
Jubilant Bhartia Group

Ajay is a leader in Strategy, Public Policy & Public Affairs, Advocacy and Stakeholder Engagement, with a demonstrated history of working across sectors, including social economy. A lawyer by education, he is an experienced Advisor, Board member, Ombudsperson & Professor of Practice with a career span of over 40 years. With strong global connections, he focuses on ethical and value-based leadership and is a regular contributor on topical subjects in major newspapers. Based in New Delhi & Washington DC, amongst other things, he focuses on promoting India – USA economic & business cooperation helping US & Indian companies.

He co-founded Public Affairs Forum of India (PAFI) in 2008. PAFI aims at aligning business, society and government on long term priorities; fostering trust across all stakeholders; collaboratively developing smart and relevant policies,proposals and processes that foster innovation and rely on evidence-based research and promotes capacity building to navigate change within the context and complexity of India. He has chaired PAFI’s flagship Annual Forum since its inception in 2014.

He is Group Strategic Advisor & Global Ombudsperson of Jubilant Bhartia Group since 2009. As an Ombudsperson, he is an impartial, confidential andindependent resource to help stakeholders resolve workplace or business-related issues and build a corporate culture based on values, ethics and compliance.

He is a Director on the Board of Aakash Educational Services Limited, a leading educational institution in India that provides comprehensive test preparatory coaching services to students preparing for medical & engineering entrance exams, school/board exams, competitive scholarship exams.

Ajay is an expert member of the Grievances Redressal Board (GRB) of Digital Publisher Content Grievances Council, an officially recognized, independent self-regulatory body for online curated content providers (OCCPs). It has been set up under the aegis of Internet and Mobile Association of India (IAMAI). DPCGC is registered by the Ministry of Information & Broadcasting as a Level-II Self-Regulatory Body for publishers of online curated content, under the Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules, 2021.

He is an Advisor to Internet & Mobile Association of India (IAMAI). Established in 2004, is a not-for-profit industry body and the country's only organization representing the digital services industry with over 500 Indian and multinational corporations as its members, which include established companies in diverse sectors of the digital ecosystem as well as start-ups. IAMAI represents varied sectors such as digital advertising, digital entertainment, traveltech, online gaming, digital payments, fintech, digital commerce, edtech, healthtech, agritech, big data, ML, AI & IoT, AR/ VR, logistics-tech and so on.

Sanjay Chadha

Chairperson, PAFI Gig Economy Council
Director, Public Policy India & South Asia, Uber

Sanjay is responsible for working with governments, policymakers and third parties to create a positive case for change and a favorable environment for Uber’s innovations in mobility, delivery and beyond.

Prior to joining Uber, Sanjay was an Additional Secretary at the Ministry of Commerce and Industries, Government of India, and handled multiple international trade negotiations with USA, Canada, Japan, Korea, Taiwan and other countries in North East Asia. He has also served as the Chairman and CEO of MMTC Limited, India’s largest international trade organization. Sanjay has also been an Executive Director of the Railway Board, and Director at the Ministry of Power, Government of India, overseeing the development of Hydro Power and IPPs including the Investment Promotions Cell.

Sanjay has co-authored a book titled “Indian Railways: The Weaving of a National Tapestry” with Bibek Debroy, Chairman of the Economic Advisory Council to the Prime Minister of India. Sanjay is a Graduate from Faculty of Management Studies, New Delhi.

Anil Padmanabhan

Senior Journalist

Anil Padmanabhan has been a journalist for the last 38 years.

He has worked in various news publications, including Press Trust of India, Business Standard, India Today and Mint.

He was awarded the Nieman fellowship in 2001, after which he was hired by India Today to be based out of New York as their Chief of Bureau (till 2006 September).

Since 2020 he has opted to go freelance and writes for Economic Times, MoneyControl, NDTV.com, Russia Today, Khaleej Times, NRI Focus, The Open and features regularly on national television.

Anil also writes a weekly column, Capital Calculus, on Substack and does a weekly show on StratNews Global which looks at policies and developments through the intersection of politics and economics.

His twitter handle is @capitalcalculus

Sumita Dawra

Secretary
Ministry of Labour and Employment
Government of India

Ms. Sumita Dawra joined Indian Administrative Service in 1991 and is currently posted as Secretary, Ministry of Labour and Employment, Government of India. Prior to this she served in the Ministry of Commerce and Industry, Government of India facilitating work related to investments, logistics and infrastructure planning, including implementation of multimodal infrastructure planning on PM GatiShakti National Master Plan.

She has a career span of more than 30 years, working at various levels of governance in the Central Government and the State, including exposure at international level, with varied experience in governance, covering economic & development sectors, infrastructure planning and finance, etc.

Ms. Dawra holds Masters and M.Phil degrees in Economics and a Master’s degree in Business Management from Punjab University, Chandigarh (India). She also holds an MBA in Public Policy from University of Birmingham (U.K.). She has several publications, including two bestselling books on public policy.

Mike Orgill

Secretary
Head of Public Policy – APAC
Uber

Mike is based in Singapore and is responsible for working with governments, policymakers and third parties, in Australia, New Zealand, Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, Hong Kong and leads the Asia Pacific region to create a positive case for change and a favorable environment for Uber’s innovations in sustainable mobility, delivery and beyond. Mike has decades of experience in the Asia Pacific region, and is an expert in the fields of sustainable mobility and shared economy. Prior to joining Uber, Mike was at Airbnb where he held roles as General Manager for Southeast Asia, Hong Kong and Taiwan where he led Airbnb’s business and operations and as Director of Public Policy for the Asia Pacific region.

Previously, Mike led Google's public policy efforts for emerging markets in Asia, covering a wide range of Internet policy issues, and worked at the US-ASEAN Business Council in Washington D.C., where he represented leading US investors in Southeast Asia on complex trade and investment issues across a variety of industries. He is also now on the board of the US-Bangladesh Business Council. Mike is a graduate of Stanford University.

Raghav Chandra

Co-founder and Chief Product and Technology Officer
Urban Company

Raghav Chandra is the co-founder and Chief Product & Technology Officer at Urban Company. He is responsible for the company's product and technology vision. His early professional life was spent in the Silicon Valley as a software engineer at Twitter,Inc and Yelp, building some of the largest tech platforms in the world. In 2014, he, Abhiraj and Varun co-founded a startup we love and know today as Urban Company.

A creator at heart, Raghav has a diverse set of interests and a knack of being hands-on right from his early days. He has been recognised by multiple prominent publications, such as Fortune 40 under 40, GQ's Most Influential Young Indians, Forbes 30 Under 30 Asia. He did his Bachelors in Computer Science & Engineering from the University of California, Berkeley.

Sudhir Zutshi

Director-Policy & Strategy, Asia Pacific
UL Solutions

Sudhir Zutshi is Director of Policy and Strategy for Asia Pacific region in UL Solutions. He is also a member of Asia Pacific Leadership Team and held additional responsibility as General Manager for Consumer Business in South Asia.

Sudhir represents UL Solutions at important working groups/committees of governments across geographies in the region and industry forums in sectors such as electronics & IT, telecom, renewables, appliances, power and controls, healthcare, consumer technology, cybersecurity, etc. Sudhir as a Chairman of TIC Council Public Affairs Committee India and Advisor to TIC Council Steering Committee in India, contributes to developing strategies and supporting initiatives for a robust conformity assessment framework in the country.

Prior to UL, Sudhir served as Deputy Director - Fast Moving Consumer Goods (FMCG), Food Processing and Direct Sales (DS) Divisions at the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI) India’s Apex Industry Association.

Sudhir with more than 20+ years of experience covering sales, strategic planning, business development, policy advocacy and regulations holds an honors degree in food technology and a master’s degree in marketing and international business. Sudhir has also participated in Career Enhancement Programs on (1) Supply Chain and Retail Management, Indian Institute of Technology – Delhi, India (2) Regulations in Marketing and Production of Food Products from Indian Institute of Management – Ahmedabad, India (3) Effective Sales and Distribution Management from Management Development Institute – Gurugram, India.

Sudhir completed India Leadership, Global Leadership Program sponsored by UL in 2014 and 2016 respectively. Sudhir completed his Executive Leadership Program [ELP] from Yale School of Management [SOM] New Haven, Connecticut in 2019 and Executive Program on Artificial Intelligence and its implications on Business Strategy from MIT[CSAIL], Massachusetts. He enjoys travelling, cycling and coaching young talent.

Anandita Singh Mankotia

Director, Public Policy
Mastercard

Anandita Singh Mankotia is Director, Public Policy, South Asia at Mastercard. In her current role, she is responsible for company’s public policy & advocacy efforts across various geographies in the South Asia region. She works closely with the policy ecosystem, including think tanks, academia, industry, civil society, and the Government. As a Policy leader, her focus lies in identifying, designing, and driving initiatives where Mastercard’s global expertise and local presence can add significant value and growth to various areas prioritised by the Government.

Prior to this, she was a veteran business journalist with 16 years spent across the country’s leading financial dailies. Her last stint was with India’s largest economic daily, The Economic Times, where she was a Senior Editor overseeing Telecom, Technology, and the Prime Minister’s Office for all Economic Affairs.

Anandita is a graduate of Economics from the Jesus and Mary College, University of Delhi and also holds a Master’s degree in Journalism from the Indian Institute of Mass Communication, New Delhi.

Javed Sayed

Chief Content and Strategic Officer
Money Control

Javed Sayed is Chief Content and Strategy Officer at Moneycontrol, India’s leading digital financial platform. Prior to this, he was Associate Executive Editor at The Economic Times, where he headed the news operations of the paper and was responsible for print digital integration. Javed has over 25 years in business journalism and keenly tracks economic policy and corporate developments.

Lavu Sri Krishna Devarayalu

Member of Parliament (Lok Sabha)
Telugu Desam Party

Politician || Educationalist || Parliamentarian & TDP Parliamentary Chairperson

Constituency : Narasaraopet (Andhra Pradesh)
Party Name : Telugu Desam Party (TDP)

Positions Held
Member of Parliament (Lok Sabha), Narasaraopet - Second Term
TDP Parliamentary Chairperson || TDP Parliamentary Party Leader
Vice Chairman – Vignan Group of Institutions, India
Member – Board of Management, Vignan’s Foundation for Science, Technology & Research, Guntur.

Educational Details
Bachelor’s in Computer Science & Engineering
Masters in Media Studies - La Trobe University, Australia
Heading Vignan Group as Vice Chairman
Dec 2008 – till date i.e. 18 years
Guntur Area, India

Sri Lavu Sri Krishna Devarayalu working as a Vice Chairman of Vignan Group of Institutions, headquartered at Guntur district of Andhra Pradesh. The Vignan Group of educational institutions are under Lavu Educational Trust, (founded in 1983), the flagship institution of the group being Vignan’s Foundation for Science, Technology and Research (VFSTR), a Deemed-tobe University located in Vadlamudi of Guntur district. The Vignan Group is serving all layers of education from primary to tertiary levels, with a current student base of around 45,000 spreads across the two states of Andhra Pradesh & Telangana.

Over the last four and half decades Vignan has been rendering yeoman service towards promoting high standards in education and contributing to the socio-economic development of the region. Thanks to Vignan, though the University is set up in a rural area has been able to produce 75% first time graduates and contributed towards upliftment of families belonging to the agricultural background by raising them from the lower rungs of the society to high income levels and enjoying good standard of life.

As a University Vice Chairman, he is working towards:

1. Providing high quality education across all the sections of the society by means of Vignan’s Group of Institutions.
2. Transforming the University to pace-up Vignan’s brand from traditional to nextgen (digital) and achieve global reach.
3. Offering worldwide students – a high-quality experience-based education, immersive courses and research-based projects with state-of-the-art R & D facilities
4. Developing globally accepted technocrats and well aligned leaders with right mix of intelligence, emotions & personal development.
5. Evolving Vignan Group from Engineering dominant Institution to Medical allied fields in order to significantly contributed to the society.

He contested and won in the Indian National Elections 2019 & 2024 from Narasaraopet Parliamentary Constituency. He previously served as the Member of 17th Lok Sabha, representing Narasaraopet constituency. And, presently serving as the Member of 18th Lok Sabha, representing the same Narasaraopet constituency of Andhra Pradesh. Lavu Sri Krishna Devarayalu, received a popular mandate and had won the parliamentary elections in India to become one of the youngest Parliamentarians in June 2019.

As a member of parliament, he is working for providing !

1. Lift irrigation scheme to irrigate 1 lakh more acres of land in the vicinity.
2. Water grid to provide drinking water to every household.
3. Special Education Training to Govt. School Teachers
4. Health Care to uplift of PHC’s and establish a Medical College
5. Development of Medium & Small-scale industries in food processing, focusing on spices & vegetables

Manish Tewari

Member of Parliament (Lok Sabha)
Indian National Congress

Manish Tewari is a third term Member of Parliament now representing the Chandigarh Constituency (Union Territory) in the House of the People- Lok Sabha from June 2024 onwards. He was Union / Federal Minister of Information & Broadcasting in the Government of India .

During his previous term in Parliament He served on the Parliamentary Standing Committee of Finance and the Parliamentary Consultative Committee of Defense.

He served on the Joint Committee of Parliament that conceptualized the Law on Data Protection. He also served on the Joint Committee of Parliament that examined the Multi State Cooperative Societies (Amendment Bill) 2022

Manish Tewari practices Law at the Supreme Court of India & in various other High Courts in India.

An international arbitrator with a specialization in various traditional & new Economy Laws.

He was elected as a Member of Parliament from Ludhiana in Punjab from 2009-2014 and from Sri Anandpur Sahib, Punjab from 2019-2024.

He was a Distinguished Senior Fellow at the Atlantic Council in Washington DC from 2016- 2019.

In addition to his Parliamentary and Professional responsibilities he also is the Senior National Spokesperson of the Indian National Congress (INC) ,General Secretary Foreign Affairs Department of the Indian National Congress and Permanent Invitee–Congress Working Committee (CWC) of the Indian National Congress (INC).

He has authored four books. His latest book on India’s National Security entitled 10 Flash Points 20 years National Security Situations that Impacted India was a best seller and is topped the charts in its genre.

He has moved various bills in Parliament including and not limited to providing a legal basis and Parliamentary Oversight over India’s Intelligence Agencies and other such internal and external security structures in the new domains of cyber, space and Artificial Intelligence.

Shashank Mani

Member of Parliament (Lok Sabha)
Bharatiya Janata Party

Shashank Mani is a visionary Member of Parliament from the Deoria con- stituency in Uttar Pradesh. A committed leader within the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) since 2004, Shashank serves as the National Niti Pramukh of the Swavalambi Bharat Abhiyan, a strategic movement aimed at fostering entrepreneurship and self-reliance across India by the Sangh. He is currently serving as the BJP's whip. With over 20 years of experience in public service and organisational leadership, he has been instrumental in driving socio-economic change in the Deoria and Kushinagar regions.

Education and Honors: Shashank Mani graduated from IIT Delhi with a B.Tech and holds an MBA (Hons) from IMD Lausanne. He began his career with Schlumberger and later became a Senior Partner at PwC, where he led key national initiatives such as the $5 Trillion Economy Committee, Mission Karmayogi, and the National Space Strategy. Recognised for his contributions to social service, Shashank has been awarded the IIT Delhi Distinguished Alumni Award. He resides in Barpar village, Deoria, where he actively promotes community development.

Political Career and Contributions: Since joining the BJP, Shashank Mani has been a key strategist and mobiliser in Uttar Pradesh. Notably, he launched the Jan Bhagidari Yatra in October 2022, walking across 500 villages to directly connect with constituents and under- stand their needs. Under his leadership, a 3,000-square-foot Jan Sampark Karyalay (Public Contact Office) has been established to facilitate seamless communication between the public and their representative.Shashank actively collaborates with the BJP's district, re- gional, and state-level units, contributing to election campaigning, voter engagement, and party organisation.

Founder of the Jagriti Movement: Shashank is the visionary founder of the Jagriti Yatra (w- ww.jagritiyatra.com ), the world's largest entrepreneurial train journey that has inspired over 8,000 young leaders and social entrepreneurs across India for over 16 years. Through this ini- tiative, Shashank aims to foster a new generation of change-makers dedicated to nation-building and sustainable development.

In addition, he established the Jagriti Enterprise Center—Purvanchal (JECP) (www.jecp.in ) in Deoria, a unique rural innovation hub dedicated to nurturing local entrepreneurship. The centre operates offices in Kushinagar and Gorakhpur and plans to expand to seven more dis- tricts in the Goraksha Prant region. In 2023, the Jagriti Yatra gained international prominence by collaborating with the G20 Startup 20, drawing global participation and recognition.

Published Author and Thought Leader Shashank is a celebrated author of two influential books: "India – A Journey Through a Healing Civilization" (HarperCollins) "Middle of Diamond India – National Renaissance through Participation and Enterprise

Shagufta Kamran

Director and Head of Government Affairs in India
Koch Business Solutions India

Shagufta Kamran is Director and Head of Government & Public Affairs, India and ASEAN at Koch Industries. In her role she is responsible for Koch’s engagement with government, industry and academia for all of Koch Group companies in India. Companies currently operating under the Koch umbrella including Molex, Infor, Koch Engineered Solutions, Koch Business Solutions and Guardian Glass have maintained a presence in India for nearly four decades.

Prior to her role at Koch, Shagufta was Director Public Policy at Twitter India and led Twitter’s though leadership on policy matters such as intermediary protection, net neutrality, privacy and data protection. Shagufta has over 16+ years of experience in delivering advisory services and leading key initiatives encompassing public policy, business strategy and technology. She has been associated with reputed firms such as US India Strategic Partnership Forum, Intel Technologies, Manufacturer’s Association for Information Technology (MAIT) and Confederation of Indian Industry (CII).

Subho Ray

Past President, PAFI
President, Internet and Mobile Association of India

President, Internet and Mobile Association of India, since March 2006. He heads the permanent secretariat of the association and is an ex-officio member of its governing council. He is currently responsible for conceptualising and implementing the association’s strategy and activities around regulatory affairs, public policy, advocacy industry standards, research, communications and promotional events.

The association’s mandate is to reach the benefits of internet and digital technologies to every citizen of India, create a better business environment for digital businesses to bring more investments and jobs and to help traditional businesses adopt digital technologies to stay globally competitive.

Before joining IAMAI, Subho was Director for the ICT vertical at the Confederation of Indian Industry in New Delhi, where he worked since 1998, closely with the software & services, BPM, hardware and telecom industries. Although very active in the areas of business development, marketing and communications, Subho’s deep interest is in public policy and regulatory affairs for technology. He is currently focused on understanding the impact of and policies for emerging technologies such as Artificial Intelligence, Blockchain, Augmented & Virtual Reality, Mobility [driverless cars, drones, hyperloop].

Subho is a trained historian having read history at Presidency College [Kolkata]; Jawahar Lal Nehru University [New Delhi] and the School of Oriental and African Studies [University of London]. He is the author of "Transformations on the Bengal Frontier – 1748-1948" [RoutledgeCurzon, 2002] and has co-authored, “Building India with Partnerships: The Story of CII” [Penguin India 2007]. He lives with his wife and daughter in New Delhi.

Virat Bhatia

Past President PAFI and Co-Chairman PAFI Annual Forum

Virat Bhatia serves as the Managing Director at Apple India. He spearheads strategy and policy in India, supporting all of Apple’s investments and business operations. These include Manufacturing, Retail, App Store, Maps, Content, Services and Digital Payments. Always one to foster collaboration, teamwork, innovation and support young talent, Virat’s career in the ICT sector spans over 25 years across multiple functions. These include general management, strategy, operations, communications and policy. Uniquely, he has led both the Services and Manufacturing side of businesses in Fortune 500 companies. Before Apple, he served in multiple, senior positions at AT&T, including as the Chairman of AT&T in India and later, as AT&T’s Regional President for South Asia. Prior to that, he was part of the team that was responsible for Coca Cola’s return to India in the mid-90s. Virat currently serves on the India Executive Leadership Board of the US-India Strategic Partnership Forum (USISPF), and on FICCI’s National Executive Committee. In 2014, the UN Secretary General, Mr. Ban Ki-moon appointed him to the Multistakeholder Advisory Group of the UN Internet Governance Forum (UNIGF). In the past, he has served as the Vice President of the Commission on ICT of the Paris-based International Chamber of Commerce (ICC), and as the Vice Chairman of the American Chamber of Commerce in India. He is an alumnus of the Delhi University and John F. Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University. Virat has also completed Advance Management Programmes at Kellogg’s School of Management, and Wharton Business School.

Ashwini Vaishnaw

Minister of Railways
Minister of Information and Broadcasting
Minister of Electronics and Information Technology
Government of India

Shri Ashwini Vaishnaw is an Indian politician, engineer, and bureaucrat currently serving as the Minister of Railways, Minister of Communications, and Minister of Electronics and Information Technology in the Government of India. Vaishnaw is known for his expertise in public policy, technology, and infrastructure, which he brings from a diverse career spanning both the private and public sectors.

Before entering politics, Shri Vaishnaw had a distinguished career in the Indian Administrative Service (IAS), where he served in the Odisha cadre and played a crucial role in state-level infrastructure development and governance. He has also worked in the private sector with companies like General Electric and Siemens, further enhancing his experience in engineering and technology management. He holds an M.Tech from IIT Kanpur and an MBA from the Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania, which complement his technical acumen and policy-making skills.

Since taking over the ministries, Shri Vaishnaw has led several transformational initiatives, particularly in the modernisation of India's railways, advancements in digital infrastructure, and driving innovation in the communications sector. His leadership has been instrumental in pushing forward reforms, including the expansion of high-speed internet connectivity, 5G deployment, and Make in India initiatives in electronics manufacturing.

Shivnath Thukral

Treasurer, PAFI
Vice President, Public Policy, India
Meta

Shivnath Thukral in his earlier role was the managing director of Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, India and set up the global think tank’s India office, leading operations and fundraising.

Thukral spent the first fifteen years of his career as a journalist with New Delhi Television Limited, India’s premier TV news channel. He was the channel’s primetime presenter with special interest in business news and policy analysis. He later established the network’s business channel NDTV Profit in 2003, taking over as the managing editor.

Prior to joining Carnegie, Thukral worked with an Indian corporation with a turnover of over $35 billion. He led its global marketing efforts, including strategic and digital communications for the group across the world.

Thukral has been a speaker at global events such as the World Economic Forum and the Milken Institute conference, as well as Indian industry summits on issues ranging from India’s economic policies, domestic politics, and the impact of new digital technologies on society.

Thukral interned in the U.S. Senate and was awarded the Eisenhower Fellowship in 2012.

Virat Bhatia

Past President PAFI and Co-Chairman PAFI Annual Forum

Virat Bhatia serves as the Managing Director at Apple India. He spearheads strategy and policy in India, supporting all of Apple’s investments and business operations. These include Manufacturing, Retail, App Store, Maps, Content, Services and Digital Payments. Always one to foster collaboration, teamwork, innovation and support young talent, Virat’s career in the ICT sector spans over 25 years across multiple functions. These include general management, strategy, operations, communications and policy. Uniquely, he has led both the Services and Manufacturing side of businesses in Fortune 500 companies. Before Apple, he served in multiple, senior positions at AT&T, including as the Chairman of AT&T in India and later, as AT&T’s Regional President for South Asia. Prior to that, he was part of the team that was responsible for Coca Cola’s return to India in the mid-90s. Virat currently serves on the India Executive Leadership Board of the US-India Strategic Partnership Forum (USISPF), and on FICCI’s National Executive Committee. In 2014, the UN Secretary General, Mr. Ban Ki-moon appointed him to the Multistakeholder Advisory Group of the UN Internet Governance Forum (UNIGF). In the past, he has served as the Vice President of the Commission on ICT of the Paris-based International Chamber of Commerce (ICC), and as the Vice Chairman of the American Chamber of Commerce in India. He is an alumnus of the Delhi University and John F. Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University. Virat has also completed Advance Management Programmes at Kellogg’s School of Management, and Wharton Business School.

Piyush Goyal

Minister of Commerce and Industry
Government of India

"Good economics makes for good politics. We are today at the cusp of a development explosion."

Piyush Goyal (60) is the Union Minister of Commerce & Industry and Member of Parliament, North Mumbai Lok Sabha. He has previously served as the Leader of the House in Rajya Sabha and helmed the Ministry of Consumer Affairs and Food & Public Distribution, Textiles, Railways, Finance, Corporate Affairs, Coal, Power, New & Renewable Energy, and Mines.

KEY MILESTONES UNDER HIS TENURE:

• India clocked its highest-ever exports of about $776 Bn in 2022-23
• Led the signing of a Free Trade Agreement (FTA) with UAE, the fastest-ever negotiated FTA globally, & India-Australia Economic Cooperation and Trade Agreement (ECTA), India’s 1st agreement with a developed country after a decade
• Oversaw the launch of Production Linked Incentive (PLI) Schemes to boost Make In India
• Led the implementation of the world’s largest food security program, Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Anna Yojana (PMGKAY) by distributing free foodgrains to nearly 80 crore poor and vulnerable people over a 2-year period
• As Minister of Railways, helped India achieve the best-ever safety record of zero passenger deaths in rail accidents
• As Power, Coal, and New & Renewable Energy Minister, successfully implemented the world’s largest LED bulb distribution program (UJALA)
• Was awarded the 4th Annual Carnot Prize in 2018 in recognition of pathbreaking transformations in India’s energy sector by making energy efficiency a people’s movement. Carnot Prize is the most prestigious award in the energy sector given by the Kleinman Center for Energy Policy at the University of Pennsylvania for distinguished contributions to energy policy through scholarship or practice.

POLITICAL JOURNEY:

During his 35-year-long political career, he has held several important positions at different levels in the world’s largest political party, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), and is in its National Executive. He has also been the National Treasurer of the Party.

PERSONAL LIFE:

He has had a brilliant academic record – an all-India second-rank holder Chartered Accountant and a second-rank holder in Law from Mumbai University. He was also a well-known investment banker. His father, Late Vedprakash Goyal was Union Minister of Shipping, and the National Treasurer of the BJP for over two decades. His mother Chandrakanta Goyal was elected thrice to the Maharashtra Legislative Assembly from Mumbai. He is married to Seema, an active social worker, and has two children – Dhruv and Radhika.

Maj. Ranjeet Goswami (Retd.)

Member, Managing Committee, PAFI
Global Head, Corporate Affairs, Tata Consultancy Services

Major Ranjeet Goswami, Retd. is the Global Head of Corporate Affairs at TATA Consultancy Services Ltd (TCS), responsible for managing Government Relations and Public Policy for TCS globally.

Ranjeet has a diverse experience of more than 27 years, extending from Defence & Homeland Security to e-Governance & Public Policy. Ranjeet earlier as part of Government of India and later as part of industry has contributed to various policy initiatives. Ranjeet in his association with various trade bodies has led many committees in technology and trade related work. Ranjeet has also been contributing to multiple strategic initiatives with local governments on behalf of his organization including in the field of developing Standards.

Ranjeet during his service in the army has performed various strategic and operational duties. His experience ranges from active deployment to being an Army Aide to the Governor. In addition to multiple operational & service medals, Ranjeet is also a recipient of Governor’s appreciation for his contribution to the state of Mizoram.

Ranjeet Goswami is a graduate in Psychology from Maharaja’s College, Jaipur and later studied Business Management at Indian Institute of Management, Bangalore. He is an alumnus of Indian Military Academy, Dehradun, and IIM-B. At leisure, Ranjeet enjoys writing on social and interpersonal topics.

Deep Pal

Director, PAFI

Deep Pal has over 20 years of experience in policy analysis, academic research, communication, and project management. As Director at PAFI, he is responsible for leveraging the organization’s collective expertise and experience to strengthen intellectual and material capacity. Deep works closely with PAFI’s leadership to engage with members in industry and government officials to enhance PAFI’s reputation as a reliable, trusted, and unbiased platform on critical issues important to our stakeholders.

Before joining PAFI, Deep worked with the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, leading research on Indian foreign policy and regional geopolitical and geoeconomic issues. Deep has collaborated with institutions such as Ashoka University, the National Bureau of Asian Research, and the Center for Strategic and International Studies. He frequently contributes to publications, including the Indian Express, Hindustan Times, Foreign Policy, and Diplomat.

Deep started as a journalist and has worked with major Indian television channels, including Aaj Tak, CNBC Awaaz, and Times Now.

He has a Ph.D. in International Studies from the University of Washington, United States.

Nitendra Rajput

Senior Vice President AI Garage
Mastercard

Nitendra Rajput is the Vice President and Head of the AI Garage Center at Mastercard in India, where he leads data science and machine learning initiatives across various divisions such as IT, sales, marketing, HR, and transaction-related data. Prior to joining Mastercard in June 2019, he served as Executive Vice President of Data Science at Info Edge, working on large-scale, real-time applications for businesses like Naukri, Jeevansathi, and 99acres. With over 20 years of experience, Nitendra spent 18 years at IBM Research, managing the mobile and AI agenda, and was recognised as an IBM Master Inventor and a member of the IBM Academy of Technology.

An expert in Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning, and Mobile Interactions, Nitendra has authored over 80 publications and holds more than 50 patents. He is an ACM Distinguished Scientist and a senior IEEE Member. His work at Mastercard involves applying deep learning algorithms like LSTM, CNN, AutoEncoders, and GANs to solve complex business problems, including recommender systems, anomaly detection, and process automation.

Abhishek Singh

Additional Secretary
Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology
Government of India

Shri Abhishek Singh is a career civil servant with 29 years of experience of governance & policy formulation. He specializes in use of Technology for improving Governance.

He is presently posted as Additional Secretary, Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology, Government of India, with responsibilities of Artificial Intelligence & Emerging Technologies, Cyber Security and Digital Skilling.

He has previously served as CEO, Karmayogi Bharat in Department of Personnel & Training; and CEO NeGD, DIC and MyGov in Ministry of Electronics & Information Technology, Government of India.

He has done Masters in Public Administration from Harvard Kennedy School of Government. He is also an alumnus of IIT Kanpur.

Rohit Kumar Singh

Member
National Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission

Rohit Kumar Singh serves as a Member in the National Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission (NCDRC) since August 2024. An IAS officer of the 1989 batch, borne on the Rajasthan cadre, he superannuated on March 31st 2024, the last assignment being Secretary to the Government of India, Department of Consumer Affairs.

After graduating in Electrical Engineering from Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Banaras Hindu University (BHU), he completed Masters in Computer Engineering from Clarkson University, New York, USA before joining the IAS. Subsequently, he obtained Masters in Public Administration (MPA) from Harvard University, USA. At IIT BHU, he received the Director’s Outstanding Merit Award in 1982 & 1983; and the Distinguished Alumnus Award recently in December 2021. At Harvard University, he was honored as Lucius N. Littaeur Fellow 2004 for outstanding academic performance and commitment to public service.

He has worked extensively and provided leadership at the middle and senior levels in Government of India & in the state of Rajasthan across departments e.g. Consumer Affairs, National Highways, Medical & Health, Home, Information Technology, Finance, Commercial Taxes, Urban Infrastructure Development, Road Transport, Rural Development, Culture and Information & Public Relations. He led the government initiative of reviving Public Private Partnerships (PPP) in National Highways via key policy interventions like the Hybrid Annuity Model through appropriate risk allocation among the public and private partners. He also successfully led the initiative of asset recycling of public funded national highways (Toll Operate Transfer Model) that resulted in one of the largest FDI in the highways sector amounting to USD 1.5 billion, one of the first successful asset monetization in India. As Additional Chief Secretary of the Department of Medical, Health & Family Welfare in Rajasthan, during the first wave of Covid-19 in the year 2020, he developed and deployed the Bhilwara Model of “ruthless containment” to successfully manage the Covid upsurge in the rural and urban hot spots across Rajasthan.

As Secretary to the Government of India, Department of Consumer Affairs on 31st December, 2021 where he proactively worked towards containing food inflation through a multi-pronged strategy in commodities while striking a delicate balance between the interest of the farmers and the consumers. He facilitated computerization, video conferencing, and e-filing across National, State, and District Consumer Dispute Redressal Commissions (Consumer Courts), reducing pendency and achieving a historic feat in 2023 when the disposal of cases exceeded the total number of filed cases across India. He undertook technological upgrades for the National Consumer Helpline, enabling a multilingual (covering 17 Indian languages), omni-channel system. He also started work on using AI for faster grievance redressal and developing an ODR platform for efficient pre-litigation resolution through Mediation & Conciliation.

A frequent contributor to India’s leading economic newspapers on topics ranging from Public Health, Infrastructure, Economy to Artificial Intelligence, he has taught batches of civil servants from Sri Lanka, Tanzania, Gambia, Cambodia, Caribbean and Latin America at the LBS National Academy Mussoorie on how to use Public Private Partnerships (PPPs) for infrastructure development in the emerging economies.

Harvey Jang

Vice President, Deputy General Counsel and Chief Privacy Officer
Cisco Systems, Inc.

Harvey Jang is Vice President, Deputy General Counsel, and Chief Privacy Officer responsible for Cisco’s global privacy strategy, vision, and mission, focusing on compliance, market access, and differentiation. He leads a global team of privacy professionals, lawyers, and engineers in developing and operationalizing Cisco’s privacy policies and standards, privacy by design, and accountability frameworks. Harvey and team represent Cisco with regulators, standards bodies, non-governmental organizations, media, customers, and other stakeholders on issues related to privacy, information governance, and data ethics.

Harvey serves on the Board of Directors for the International Association of Privacy Professionals (IAPP) and is an instructor for the IAPP’s privacy credentials (CIPP/US, CIPP/Europe, CIP/Technologist, and AI Governance Professional). He also serves on the Advisory Councils of the Centre for Information Policy Leadership (CIPL), Information Accountability Foundation (IAF), and Future of Privacy Forum (FPF), and is a member of the City of San Jose Digital Privacy Advisory Task Force.

Harvey earned his B.A.s in Business Economics and Social Psychology from the University of California, Los Angeles, and his J.D. from the University of California, College of the Law – San Francisco. He is a Certified Information Privacy Professional and Fellow of Information Privacy by IAPP, and Certified Information Security Manager and Certified Data Privacy Solutions Engineer by the Information Systems Audit and Control Association (ISACA).

Venkatesh Krishnan

Executive Director
Microsoft India and South Asia

Venkat Krishnan is the Executive Director for Public Sector, Healthcare, and Education at Microsoft.

Vedika Kapoor

Director-Government Affairs & Communications
Haleon

Vedika Kapoor is a seasoned professional with over two decades of experience in corporate affairs. Currently, she serves as the Director of Communication & Government Affairs at Haleon, formerly known as GSK Consumer Health.

Before joining Haleon, Vedika worked with Corteva Agriscience, DuPont, Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce & Industry (FICCI) & Exl services. She has collaborated with both central and state governments, driving the company's involvement in industry and business associations. Her diverse experience spans multiple sectors, including FMCG, agriculture, food, nutrition, health, defense, and chemicals.

Vedika holds a Master’s degree in Business Law from the National Law School of India University, Bengaluru, and a Master’s degree in Economics.

T. S. Vishwanath

Director General, Past President & Founding Member, PAFI
Co-Founder & Partner, VeKommunicate

As Principal Adviser with APJ-SLG Law Offices, he assists the Indian Government on some policy and regulatory issues and advices industry on the impact of global economic and trade policies. He also writes a regular column - Trade Matters – for the Business Standard.

Ajay Bisaria

Corporate Advisor and Former Diplomat

Ajay Bisaria is a strategic business advisor and commentator on international affairs. He is a Distinguished Fellow at the Observer Research Foundation and chairs a Ministry of Steel task force studying the global experience in green steel. He is currently advising a few international companies, including OMERS, (a Toronto-based pension fund) and NEO Asset Management (a Mumbai-based infrastructure fund).

He has had a distinguished diplomatic career spanning 35 years as a member of the Indian Foreign Service (1987 batch), where he dealt with some of India’s key economic and security relationships. He served as Indian High Commissioner to Canada (2020-2022) and Pakistan (2017-2020). He was earlier India’s ambassador to Poland and Lithuania (2015-2017). He has also represented the country at the World Bank in Washington DC and in embassies in Berlin and Moscow. He has served in various capacities in the Ministry of External Affairs, Department of Commerce and the Prime Minister’s Office, where he was a key aide to Prime Minister Vajpayee from 1999 to 2004. He has dealt extensively with India’s Eurasia policy, including with Russia, Ukraine, and Central Asia.

He has published and lectured on issues related to trade, finance, and geopolitics, with a focus on South Asia, Eurasia, Central Asia, and Canada. He writes extensively on geopolitics, including in op-ed columns in Indian newspapers. His first book, Anger Management, on the troubled diplomatic relationship between India and Pakistan, was released in January 2024, to critical and popular acclaim.

He has a bachelor’s degree in economics from St Stephen’s College, Delhi University, an MBA (Finance and Marketing) from IIM Calcutta and a master’s degree in public policy from Princeton University. He has received distinguished alumnus awards from Modern School, New Delhi and IIM Calcutta. He knows Russian, German and Urdu, apart from Hindi and English.

C. Raja Mohan

Non-Resident Distinguished Fellow
Asia Society Policy Institute

Prof. C. Raja Mohan is a former Director of Institute of South Asian Studies, National University of Singapore and currently a Visiting Research Professor there. Earlier he served as a Professor of South Asian Studies at Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi, and at the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore.

Professor Mohan is currently an adviser to the Council of Strategic and Defence Research, Delhi. He has been associated with several think tanks such as the Institute of Defence Studies and Analyses, the Centre for Policy Research and the Observer Research Foundation. He was also the founding director of Carnegie India, New Delhi and set up the Asia Society Policy Institute in New Delhi. He was the Henry Alfred Kissinger Chair in International Affairs at the United States Library of Congress, Washington DC, from 2009 to 2010. He served on India’s National Security Advisory Board. He led the Indian Chapter of the Pugwash Conferences on Science and World Affairs from 1999 to 2006.

Prof Mohan’s research interests include Asian geopolitics, Indian foreign and security policies, and the global governance of new technologies. He writes a regular column for Foreign Policy the Indian Express and was earlier the Strategic Affairs Editor for The Hindu newspaper, Chennai. His new book India and the Asian Rebalance, will be published by IISS, London in the Adelphi Series at the end of 2024. Among his earlier books are Samudra Manthan: Sino-Indian Rivalry in the Indo-Pacific (2013), Modi’s World: Expanding India’s Sphere of Influence (2015), and The New Asian Geopolitics: Military Power and Regional Order (2021).

Indrani Bagchi

Chief Executive Officer
Ananta Centre, India

Indrani Bagchi is the Chief Executive Officer at Ananta Centre, India.

She was Associate Editor with The Times of India, where she reported and analyzed foreign policy issues for the newspaper from 2004 until 2022.

As Diplomatic Editor, Indrani covered the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) on her news beat, as well as interpreted and analyzed global trends with an Indian perspective.

Earlier, Indrani worked with India Today, a premier news magazine, The Economic Times and The Statesman.

She graduated from Loreto College, Calcutta University with English honours. Indrani was a Reuters Fellow at Oxford University in 1997. In 2010, Indrani was awarded the Chang Lin-Tien fellowship by the Asia Foundation to study US-China relations at Brookings Institution, Washington DC. She is a Fellow of the Kamalnayan Bajaj Fellowship Class 3 of the Ananta Aspen Centre and a member of Aspen Global Leadership Network.

She tweets @horror06 and @IndBagchi.

Rahul Roy Chaudhury

Senior Fellow for South and Central Asian Defence
Strategy and Diplomacy
The International Institute for Strategic Studies

Rahul Roy-Chaudhury is the Senior Fellow for South and Central Asia Defence, Strategy and Diplomacy at the International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS), where he has worked for over 20 years.

His research and publications focus on India’s domestic politics and foreign policy; regional security with a focus on Pakistan, Afghanistan and the Indian Ocean; and India-UK defence relations.

AOn these issues, he organises discreet policy-relevant ‘track 1.5’ meetings – bringing together senior government security officials with influential experts. These private and off-the-record conferences and workshops are held annually in Muscat, Manama, Istanbul, Singapore, London, Islamabad and New Delhi.

Rahul earlier worked at the Institute for Defence Studies and Analyses (IDSA) in New Delhi and then served briefly in the National Security Council Secretariat (NSCS) in the Prime Minister’s Office, during the first BJP government. He has written two books on the Indian Navy.

Sujan R. Chinoy

Director General
Manohar Parrikar Institute for Defence Studies and Analyses

Sujan R. Chinoy is the Director General of the Manohar Parrikar Institute for Defence Studies and Analyses (MP-IDSA), New Delhi since 2019. MP-IDSA is India’s largest autonomous think-tank devoted to defence, security and international relations issues. The DG is appointed by the Appointments Committee of the Cabinet headed by the Prime Minister.

A career diplomat from 1981-2018, Amb Chinoy was the Ambassador of India to Japan and Mexico and the Consul General of India in Shanghai and Sydney. A specialist on China, East Asia and politico-security issues, he headed the Indian side in the bilateral Expert Group of Diplomatic and Military Officials negotiating confidence-building measures (CBMs) with China on the boundary dispute from 1996-2000. At the National Security Council Secretariat (NSCS) from 2008-2012, he anchored external and internal security policies and institutional dialogues with counterparts around the world, including in the extended neighbourhood of the Indo-Pacific.

During his public service of over four decades, he has dealt with political, security, defence, technology as well as trade and economic issues. His diverse Foreign Service career also included postings at the UN in New York, Beijing, Hong Kong and Riyadh. He was the Chair of the Think20 engagement group for India’s G20 Presidency and a Member of the DRDO Review Committee of the Government of India. He is also a Member of the Selection Committee for India's Padma Awards Selection Committee.

He regularly contributes to newspapers and journals, besides lecturing globally on diverse subjects. He speaks fluent Mandarin and is conversant in French, Spanish, German, Japanese, Arabic and French-Creole, besides English, Hindi and Gujarati. He is the author of “World Upside Down: India Recalibrates Its Geopolitics” (published in July 2023 by Harper Collins) and “Global Tumult: India as a Pole Star”, (published in July 2024 by RUPA Publications).

Vinita Sethi

Immediate Past President, PAFI
SVP & Chief Public Affairs
Apollo Hospitals Group

Vinita is the SVP & Chief Public Affairs at the Apollo Hospitals Group, India’s largest and Asia’s foremost integrated healthcare conglomerate spanning across hospitals, clinics, pharmacies, R&D, and tele-remote health care. She works actively with the industry and the Government to accelerate the growth of an inclusive healthcare ecosystem, and is regularly engaged with policy advocacy forums with Ministries and think tanks. Focusing on opportunities to collaborate across industry, and to synergise for scale across CSR programs, she has been engaged with other global stakeholders at the World Economic Forum as well, to promote an innovative culture to reinvent & transform healthcare.

In a career spanning over two decades, she has worked in senior positions in CII & FICCI, and as VP-Corporate Affairs at Bharti Airtel. Vinita completed her Masters in Economics from the Delhi School of Economics (1985-87), followed by Masters in International Relations from the International University of Japan (1987-89). Vinita has published several papers and articles, and has been acknowledged by the Niti Aayog for her contribution to the "Strategy for New India @75".

Passionate about developmental issues, she helped set up the Ek Soch Sandbox for social entrepreneurship (2011-2015). Currently she is one of the co-conveners of the Women’s Mentorship forum in FICCI-FLO led “Empowering the Greater 50% initiative” and is working on a digital inclusion programme for women in education & financial literacy across the country.

Deepshikha Dharmaraj

President, PAFI
Chief Executive Officer
Burson Group

With three decades of rich and diverse experience in public relations and integrated communications, Deepshikha Dharmaraj is one of the most respected leaders in the industry in India. Till recently, the CEO of BCW India Group, she now takes over as Chief Executive Officer, Burson Group India, which includes Burson Genesis, GCI Health India and Hill & Knowlton India. In this role she manages the overall business interests of Burson in India and implements its growth strategy encompassing people, clients and partners.

Deepshikha provides strategic counsel to the firm’s marquee clients and senior client leaders and is sought by them as a trusted advisor in good as well as turbulent times. A firm believer in conceptualising impactful campaigns, she champions creativity and measurement across the organization.

In her professional journey, Deepshikha has experienced every aspect of the business. After spearheading the communication mandates for some of the biggest clients at the firm, she led the regional expansion of the erstwhile Genesis PR in the west, setting up the Mumbai office in 1996 and Pune in 1998. She then went on to create the talent development framework as the Chief Talent Officer and Head of Learning and Development. As Chief Marketing & Growth Office, she led the acquisition and retention of key clients and built strong partnerships for new services and capability enhancements. And then combined all these roles as the Chief Business Growth Officer, before being named the CEO.

An active leader in India’s public relations industry initiatives, Deepshikha is a founding board member and currently the President of the India chapter of the Global Women in Public Relations (GWPR), a global organisation for senior women in PR and communications. She serves as the Managing Committee member and President of the Public Affairs Forum of India (PAFI). She also served as President of the Public Relations Consultants Association of India (PRCAI) in 2008. Passionate about bringing creative ideas and measurement into communications, she has been jury for numerous prestigious award shows, including Cannes PR Lions, D&AD Awards, SABRE South Asia Awards, PR Week Awards, Campaign PR Awards India, Fulcrum Awards and IPRCCA amongst others. Deepshikha has also won several awards and recognition, including, most recently being named PR Professional of the Year at Indian PR & Corporate Communications Awards (IPRCCA) 2023 and CEO Of The Year by e4m Women’s Achievers Summit & Awards 2023. She was also listed among the top 25 PR and Communications professionals by Reputation Today, among the 100 Changemakers of PR and Corporate Communications by Exchange4Media, and PR Professional of the Year, by Campaign PR Awards India 2019 and IPRCCA 2019.

Deepshikha holds a master’s degree in business economics from Delhi University and is a firm believer in nurturing new talent. She spends time with students of communication at institutes like the WPP School and Xavier Institute of Communications, teaching and learning from them. She frequently takes part in leadership training and brand communications workshops, as an experienced trainer and participant.

She lives in Mumbai with her husband Atul Suri and son Sohum, spending weekends exploring new coffee shops and places to hang-out, reading and indulging in some mind and body work with yoga and meditation.

Shivnath Thukral

Treasurer, PAFI
Vice President, Public Policy, India
Meta

Shivnath Thukral in his earlier role was the managing director of Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, India and set up the global think tank’s India office, leading operations and fundraising.

Thukral spent the first fifteen years of his career as a journalist with New Delhi Television Limited, India’s premier TV news channel. He was the channel’s primetime presenter with special interest in business news and policy analysis. He later established the network’s business channel NDTV Profit in 2003, taking over as the managing editor.

Prior to joining Carnegie, Thukral worked with an Indian corporation with a turnover of over $35 billion. He led its global marketing efforts, including strategic and digital communications for the group across the world.

Thukral has been a speaker at global events such as the World Economic Forum and the Milken Institute conference, as well as Indian industry summits on issues ranging from India’s economic policies, domestic politics, and the impact of new digital technologies on society.

Thukral interned in the U.S. Senate and was awarded the Eisenhower Fellowship in 2012.

S. Krishnan

Secretary
Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology
Government of India

S. Krishnan is posted as Secretary in the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology, Government of India since 11th September, 2023

He has earlier served as Additional Chief Secretary, Industries, Investment Promotion & Commerce Department, Government of Tamilnadu during March, 2020 to August, 2023.

Of the 1989 batch of the Indian Administrative Service, he has also been Additional Chief Secretary in the Finance Department and Principal Secretary in the Housing and Urban Development and in the Planning, Development and Special Initiatives Departments. He was the founder CEO of the Tamil Nadu Infrastructure Development Board. He has also served as the Chairman of the Fifth Tamil Nadu State Finance Commission

He served as the Senior Advisor in the Office of the Executive Director for India, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and Bhutan in the International Monetary Fund (Washington DC) and represented the Government of India in the G20 Expert Groups on International Financial Architecture and Global Financial Safety Nets.

In the Government of India, he has been Deputy Director in the LBSNAA (Lal Bahadur Shastri National Academy of Administration) for 4 years from 2000 to 2004 and Private Secretary to the Union Finance Minister.

He was District Collector of Virudhunagar District where he calmed a volatile situation and ensured implementation of development programmes in a 3 years tenure. He was also Deputy Secretary (Budget) in Finance Department for 4 years

K Srinivas

Secretary
Ministry of Housing & Urban Affairs
Government of India

Srinivas Katikithala, a senior Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officer of the 1989 batch, currently serves as Secretary in the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs, Government of India. Prior to this, he held the position of Secretary in the Ministry of Minority Affairs and was the Director of the prestigious Lal Bahadur Shastri National Academy of Administration. In his role as Establishment Officer and Secretary to the Appointments Committee of the Union Cabinet, he played a pivotal role in structuring Mission Karmayogi, the Government of India’s flagship civil service capacity-building program.

With a career spanning over 32 years across federal and state levels, Katikithala has demonstrated leadership in public policy, legislative reforms, and infrastructure development. In his cadre state of Gujarat, he was instrumental in introducing several public policy reforms in areas such as revenue administration, personnel management, and urban affairs. He also spearheaded landmark projects like the Statue of Unity, GIFT City, and the Gujarat Earthquake Rehabilitation Program (GERRP), which rebuilt 14 cities post the devastating 2001 earthquake.

Manoj Ahuja

Chief Secretary
Odisha

Shri Manoj Ahuja, the Chief Secretary to the Government of Odisha since June 2024, is an IAS officer from the 1990-batch of the Odisha cadre. He holds a B.E. in Mechanical Engineering from Thapar Institute of Engineering and Technology, Patiala, an MBA from Punjab University, Chandigarh, and a Master's in Public Administration (International Development) from Harvard University, USA.

Prior to his current position, he held several key portfolios, including Secretary, Agriculture, Joint Director (Personnel Training / Personnel & General Administration), Commissioner & Secretary (Steel & Mines, Sports & Youth Services), and Chairman of the Central Board of Secondary Education, Ministry of Education, where he served at the rank of Secretary to the Government of India.

Atul Kumar Tiwari

Secretary
Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship
Government of India

Shri Atul KUmar Tiwari, IAS, belongs to 1990 batch of Indian Administrative Service borne on Karnataka Cadre. Besides studying History and Economics, he has done MBA in Public Policy from Birmingham, UK, M.Phil. in Social Science, and recently LLB from Delhi University. He has handled different portfolios in the State of Karnataka, particularly in Industries & Commerce, Urban Infrasture Development and Education with manhy accomplishments in his name. In the Government of India, he has served with distinction in Ministries of Urban Development, Overseas Indian Affairs, Rural Development, Textiles and in the Ministry of Information & Broadcasting. He is serving in Ministry of Skill Developmemt and Entrepreneurship in different capacities from November, 2020 and as Secretary from September, 2022.

Neeraj Mittal

Secretary, Department of Telecom
Ministry of Communications
Government of India

Dr. Neeraj Mittal, Secretary, Department of Telecommunications, a senior Indian Administrative Service Officer of Tamil Nadu cadre, is a B. Tech in Electrical Engineering from IIT, Kanpur, MBA from Cranfield University, UK and Ph.D from Ohio State University, USA in Management Information Systems. Business School.

He started his career as an IAS Officer in 1992. He has held various administrative positions in the fields of land and revenue management, mines and minerals, IT/Communications, e-governance. During his stint in Central deputation, he worked in Department of Telecom, Ministry of Commerce & Industry and Ministry of Petroleum & Natural Gas. While working as Joint Secretary in the Ministry of Petroleum & Natural Gas, he was instrumental in rolling out the Cash Transfer program in LPG and ‘Give It Up’ campaign. He has also served as Senior Advisor to the Executive Director in World Bank in Washington DC.

He held important positions of CEO of Tamil Nadu Industrial Guidance and Export Promotion Bureau, Additional Chief Secretary, Information Technology and Digital Service Department and MD & CEO, Tamil Nadu Urban Finance and Infrastructure Development Corporation.

He has several publications to his credit.

V. Vualnam

Secretary
Ministry of Civil Aviation
Government of India

Shri Vumlunmang Vualnam is the Secretary of the Ministry of Civil Aviation (MoCA), Government of India, having assumed the role in September 2023, succeeding Shri Rajiv Bansal upon his retirement. An IAS officer of the 1992 batch from the Manipur cadre, Shri Vualnam has held several significant positions in both the Union Government and the Government of Manipur.

Shri Vualnam has earlier served as Additional Secretary in the Ministry of Finance, Joint Secretary in the Ministry of Home Affairs, and Deputy Secretary in the Ministry of Finance & Company Affairs. In Manipur, his key roles included Commissioner of Health & Family Welfare and Director of Transport. Additionally, he has served as an advisor to the Executive Director at the World Bank, reflecting his wide-ranging expertise in governance and international finance.

Chetan Krishnaswamy

Vice President, PAFI
Vice President, Public Policy
Amazon India

Chetan joined Amazon after an almost 7 year stint at Google. He comes with a wealth of public policy and business experience, working in some of the most demanding and challenging Indian corporate policy environments. During his time at Google, he built an exceptionally strong team, initiated many proactive partnerships with Central and State governments, and strategically re-positioned the company and its reputation in India across a diverse set of political and policy stakeholders, including at the very highest levels.

Prior to joining Google, Chetan was Director, Corporate affairs at Dell India for five years, and previously led Public Policy at Intel, including serving as the TA to the President of Intel. At Intel he won the Intel Achievement Award (IAA) – the company’s highest award. Less than 1% Intel employees win the coveted award. Chetan began his career as a journalist and has worked for some of India’s most renowned publications, including the Times of India, where he headed the newspaper’s technology bureau.

Chetan lives with his wife in Gurgaon, and has a son who is doing his undergrad at UC Berkeley. In his free time, Chetan likes to read (non-fiction), listen to Indian classical music, and, if the weather permits, “run a few miles”.