Anubhuti Kaul Bhrany

Senior Director & Head Government Affairs
And Public Policy
Flex India

Anubhuti has a vast experience in managing public policy space. She specializes in IT/ ITes and Electronic sector; right from services to manufacturing to post manufacturing operations.

Prior to her current role she was Heading Government Relations- India, Bangladesh & Sri Lanka for HP Inc. In her earlier roles she was holding similar profiles as Senior Advisor at Intel and Wipro Technologies. Before moving into Policy Advocacy, she was associated with the mainstream political journalism for more than 15 years. As a journalist covering Parliament and frontline political parties has been her core strengths.

She was awarded as the most valued journalist by Mission Awareness.

Rohit Saran

Editor-in-Chief
The Times of India - Digital

Rohit Saran is Editor-in-Chief of The Times of India-Digital. He has been Managing Editor of The Times of India and Executive Editor of The Economic Times. He has held senior editorial positions at the India Today Group where he was executive editor of India Today and Editor of Business Today. He also edited The Khaleej Times in Dubai.

Rohit has conceptualised and launched several publications, including ET Magazine, ET Wealth and Money Today. He was also the editor of the South Asian edition of Harvard Business Review and Scientific American.

He holds a Master’s degree in Economics and has a deep interest in data and digital journalism.

Suresh Narayanan

Chairman and Managing Director
Nestle India Ltd

Mr. Suresh Narayanan has over 36 years of rich and exhaustive experience in the FMCG Industry and has held Senior Management and Top Leadership roles in leading global companies. He is on the Board of Directors of Nestlé India Limited from 1st August, 2015. Mr. Narayanan was Chairman and CEO of Nestlé Philippines prior to joining Nestlé India in 2015.

Mr. Narayanan was Managing Director of Nestlé Singapore Pte. Ltd., from 2008 to 2010.

During his time, the overall business in Singapore witnessed sustained growth amidst the economic downturn.

He was awarded the Medal of Commendation by the Government of Singapore in 2010, for excellence in employee relations during this challenging period. He moved to Nestlé Egypt as Chairman and CEO and Head of NEAR, where his initiatives resulted in significant business growth and investments despite the turbulence and volatility faced by the region at this time.

Mr. Narayanan joined Nestlé in 1999 as Executive Vice President for Sales in India, where he spearheaded major structural and strategic changes in Sales and Customer Management and set up the chilled dairy business. He moved to Nestlé Indochina in 2003, as Executive Director for Sales, Marketing and Food-Services, covering the countries of Thailand, Cambodia, Myanmar, Laos and Vietnam. Two years later in 2005, he returned to Nestlé India as Head of Sales for India, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and Nepal. 

Mr. Narayanan began his career as a Management Trainee with Hindustan Unilever, where he held numerous positions of increasing responsibility in Sales, Marketing and General Management.  He has also worked with Colgate Palmolive in India.  

Mr. Narayanan holds a master’s degree in Economics from the Delhi School of Economics and has a Diploma from the IMD Program for Executive Development. He was conferred with honoris causa, Doctor of Philosophy in Management by Bennett University, India.

He has participated in the Nestlé Leadership Program of the London Business School.  He has delivered talks at NASSCOM forums, various Corporates, NUS School of Business-Singapore, American University–Cairo, Columbia University, Army War College Mhow, Naval War College-Goa and Business Schools such as IIM’s, ISB etc. in India.

Mr. Narayanan was honoured at the Forbes India Leadership Awards 2017 as the Best CEO in the Multinational category. He was recognized among “Most Valuable CEOs” in 2019 by Business World and also awarded “Best CEO – FMCG” for two years consecutively in 2019 and 2020 by Business Today. CNBC-AWAAZ awarded Mr. Suresh Narayanan as the Best Performing Leader for the MNC category in 2020. Mr. Narayanan was honored as the Entrepreneurial CEO at EY Entrepreneur Of The Year™ 2020

Under his leadership, in 2019, Nestlé India won the “Best Governed Company Award for 2018” by Asian Centre for Corporate Governance & Sustainability. Business Standard Awarded Nestlé India as the MNC of the year in 2020. In 2020 Business World Awarded Nestlé India for Best Financial Performance in the MNC Category and also bestowed ‘Purpose and Resilience’ Award 2020 and in 2021 Nestlé India was awarded Outstanding Company of the year by CNBC TV18 India Business Leader Awards (IBLA).

Rajan Anandan

Managing Director
Surge and Sequoia Capital India LLP

As part of the leadership team at Sequoia Capital, Rajan is focusing on developing Surge into the world's top scale-up program for startups by acting as an investment advisor and mentor to the programme's founders.

Surge aims to engineer rapid early progress for startups, by enabling disproportionate access to capital, talent, network and decades of company-building knowledge. Rajan's deep understanding of technology, operating expertise and a track record of growing tech businesses across the region will help Surge's founders scale and build the businesses of tomorrow.

Prior to Sequoia, as the VP of Google India and Southeast Asia, Rajan played a key role in expanding the regions internet ecosystem while accelerating Google's innovation and growth in the region. He is also a prolific angel investor who has backed a large number of successful startups at very early stages. Rajan also led Microsoft and Dell in India, worked for Michael Dell the founder of Dell and was earlier a Partner at McKinsey & Company in Chicago.

Daisy Chittilapilly

President
Cisco India & SAARC

Daisy Chittilapilly is President of Cisco's India and SAARC theatre. As President, Daisy is responsible for strategy and sales, operations, and investments to drive long-term growth in the region.

With over 25 years of experience in the technology industry, including 17 years of leadership experience at Cisco, Daisy has a proven track record of transforming operations and cultures to drive growth at scale.

Daisy most recently held the position of Managing Director for Cisco's Digital Transformation Office, where she worked with customers to capitalize on opportunities emerging in the digital world.

In addition, as the leader of Software & Services Sales, she worked with partners to accelerate Cisco's transition towards software and subscription-based offerings. Previously, she held leadership positions within Cisco's Enterprise & Commercial businesses, Strategy & Operations, and Partner Organisation.

Before joining Cisco, Daisy worked with Wipro Limited across multiple sales management roles.

Daisy serves on the Executive Council for NASSCOM, and as the Co-Chair on the FICCI National Committee for Artificial Intelligence and Digital Transformation. She is a governing body member of Woxsen University, and an advisory board member of the non-profit 'Dragonflies Everywhere'.

Daisy is a BTech (College of Engineering, Trivandrum) and holds a Post Graduate Certificate in General Management (XLRI, Jamshedpur). She is passionate about empowering youth to join the technology space and mentoring start-ups to innovate technology solutions for the most urgent social challenges.

B. Amrish Rau

CEO
Pine Labs

B. Amrish Rau is the CEO of Pine Labs. He leads the company's growth and expansion in Asia and beyond. He has over two decades of rich experience in the fintech industry, having run large fintech organizations.

Amrish started his fintech journey with First Data Corporation in 2005. Later, as Managing Director for First Data Asia he helped build a market leading payments joint venture with ICICI Bank.

As CEO of First Data MS Asia, he was responsible for all operations in the South and South East Asia markets.

Prior to First Data, Amrish spent eight years with NCR Corporation where he started in business development and went on to head the company's data warehousing and CRM division, Teradata, as Managing Director.

Prior to joining Pine Labs, Amrish was the head of financial technology investments and partnerships for Naspers where he was responsible for increasing the company's footprint in the financial technology sector. In 2013, Amrish founded CitrusPay which was acquired by PayU in 2016 for USD 150 million.

Raman Sidhu

Past President & Founding Member, PAFI and
CEO
EBG Federation

He is an Independent Director on the Boards of Selan Exploration Technologies Limited as well as Cremica Food Industries Limited, Senior Adviser to TMF-Group & to Accord Group, a senior executive search firm. 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 Management Committee of the U. K. Chartered Accountants Association of India.

Mr. Sidhu’s career spanned over 3 decades as an Investment Banker & a wholesale 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.

Vinita Sethi

Treasurer, PAFI and
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, reinvent & transform healthcare, she has been engaged with other global stakeholders at the World Economic Forum, and is also additional director on the board of Foundation for Innovative New Diagnostics, FIND-India.

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 master’s in Economics from the Delhi School of Economics (1985-87), followed by master’s 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 Member, Advisory Board- Women Intech Delhi Chapter; one of co-conveners of the Women’s Mentorship forum in FICCI-FLO led “Empowering the Greater 50% initiative” and is also working on digital inclusion programmes for women in education & financial literacy across the country.

Shereen Bhan

Managing Editor
CNBC TV18

Shereen Bhan is the Managing Editor of CNBC-TV18 with over 20 years of experience in the field of Television Broadcast, tracking corporate, policy news and events that defined the business landscape in India. For more than a decade now, Shereen has been not only producing and anchoring flagship, award winning shows like 'India Business Hour' and ‘Young Turks', she has also been hands-on in guiding and molding young business journalists.

She has been responsible for breaking a range of news stories that have redefined the Indian economic landscape in recent times and has also interviewed some of the biggest names in business and politics, both domestic and global.

Shereen is also the Anchor & Editor of the award winning show 'Young Turks', one of India's longest running shows on entrepreneurship – a section that over the last 18 years has successfully built a niche category in business news programming.

Shereen is also the Author of Young Turks, a book published by Random House India. Shereen has interviewed some of the biggest names in Business from legendary investor Warren Buffet to Bill Gates, Satya Nadella, Richard Branson, Sheryl Sandberg, Indra Nooyi to name just a few. She has also spent several years tracking the political- economy and has interviewed several Finance Ministers and other Cabinet Ministers over the years.

Over the course of her 21-year tryst with business journalism, Shereen has been the recipient of the 'Best Business Talk Show' award at the News Television awards for two years consecutively. She also won the 'FICCI Woman of the Year' award for her contribution to the Media in 2005, and was named a 'Young Global Leader' by the World Economic Forum. She also won the ‘Best Business Anchor Award’ at the ‘News Television Awards’ in 2013 and the ‘Best English News Anchor Award’ in 2018.

Shereen was named in IMPACT's '50 Most Influential Women In Indian Media, Marketing & Advertising List, for 2018, 2019 and yet again for 2020. She has won the News Television Editor-in-Chief of the year in the English category and the Best Anchor, English in the prestigious ENBA 2019 Awards.

More recently, continuing her winning streak at ENBA 2020 Awards, Shereen won the Managing Editor of the Year – English and Best Anchor – English awards.

Dr Rajiv Kumar

Vice Chairman
NITI Aayog

Dr. Rajiv Kumar is Vice Chairman, NITI Aayog, in the rank and status of a Cabinet Minister. He also serves as the Chancellor of Gokhale Institute of Politics and Economics, Pune.  

His earlier stint in Government was initially with the Ministry of Industry and subsequently in the Ministry of Finance, as Economic Advisor during the reform years of 1991-1994.   He also served as an independent director on the Central Boards of the Reserve Bank of India and the State Bank India.

He has wide experience of having worked in government, academia, industry associations, as well as in international financial institutions.

Dr. Kumar has a Ph.D. in Economics from Lucknow University, India and a D. Phil. From Oxford University, UK

Harish Krishnan

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

As Managing Director & Chief Policy Officer of 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 the Vice President of MAIT, a member of the Confederation of Information Technology, Chairman, American Chamber of Commerce in India National committee on CSR) and FICCI’s National Committee on Telecom.

With over 25 years of experience in Public Affairs, Harish worked in IBM & Confederation of Indian Industry before joining Cisco in 2007.

Tanmoy Chakrabarty

Secretary, PAFI and
Group Government Affairs Officer,
Tata Sons Private Limited

Tanmoy started this assignment on April 01,2018. Here his role is to synergize the Tata Group Company initiatives to Central, State and Local Governments and to develop a “One Tata” approach to the Government Sector.

Earlier for 14 years Tanmoy was the Vice President & Global Head - Government Industry Solutions Unit (ISU) at Tata Consultancy Services Limited (TCS) and was based in New Delhi, India.

He built the Government Business for TCS worldwide from 10th January 2004 until 31st March 2018.

He has over 39 years of experience related with Business Development, Sales and Delivery of Integrated IT Solutions and Services to the Government sector and has led many enterprises wide, mission mode and holistic transformational projects in the area of e-Governance in India and other parts of the World. Tanmoy managed more than 305 active clients in the Government Sector for TCS globally and has a team of over 12500 Associates in TCS across 7 Countries.

Prior to TCS, Tanmoy was Head - India Sales and Operations at EDS: Electronic Data Systems, India where he served between 1999 and 2004.

Tanmoy joined Siemens Nixdorf, India in 1996 - 1999 as Vice President - Sales & Marketing at New Delhi and was responsible for All India Sales & Marketing of the various Information Technology Products and Solution and Services.

He has served earlier as a member of the IT Sub-Committee at Assocham, CII, FICCI and PHDCCI. He is on the Defence IT Sub Committee for FICCI. Additionally, he is a Member of the IT Task Force of the Chief of Air Staff, Indian Air Force and a Member of the IT Think Tank for the Chief of Army Staff, Indian Army

He currently is the Chairman of the Infrastructure Sub Committee at FICCI and is the Treasurer and Management Committee Member at Public Affairs Forum of India (PAFI ).

He did his schooling from La Mariniere for Boys, Calcutta and holds a bachelor’s degree in Commerce from St. Xavier's College, Calcutta and is an MBA from IMM, Calcutta. He has completed an Executive Development Program from The Babson College, Boston, Massachusetts, USA.

He resides in Noida, Uttar Pradesh, India with his wife Priti and their two children – Tanushree and Pranoy.

Nitin Pai

Co-Founder & Director
The Takshashila Institution

Nitin Pai is co-founder and director of the Takshashila Institution, an independent centre for research and education in public policy. His current research includes information warfare and high tech geopolitics. He teaches international relations, ethical reasoning and public policy at Takshashila’s graduate programmes.

Pai’s regular columns appear in Mint and ThePrint.

He was a gold medalist from the National University of Singapore’s Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy, an undergraduate scholar at Nanyang Technological University, and an alum of National College, Bangalore. He has worked in various capacities in the telecommunications industry, including in satellite design and undersea cable projects. Before founding Takshashila, he spent more than a decade at the Singapore government as a policymaker in the technology sector.

Shivshankar Menon

Visiting Professor, Ashoka University,
Former National Security Advisor and
Former Foreign Secretary

Ambassador Shivshankar Menon is currently visiting professor at Ashoka University, India, and Chair of the Ashoka Centre for China Studies.

He was previously National Security Advisor to the Prime Minister of India, Jan 2010-May 2014; Foreign Secretary of India, October 2006-July 2009; and has served as the Indian Ambassador or High Commissioner to China, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Israel.

In 2016 he published Choices; Inside the Making of Indian Foreign Policy.

His book on India in Asian Geopolitics; The Past, Present (Brookings Press USA, & Penguin Random House India) was released in April 2021.

He has been a Fisher Family Fellow at the Kennedy School, Harvard University, and Richard Wilhelm Fellow at MIT in 2015. He was chosen one of the “Top 100 Global Thinkers” by Foreign Policy magazine in 2010.

He is also Chairman, Advisory Board, Institute of Chinese Studies, New Delhi; Distinguished Fellow of the Centre for Social and Economic Progress, India; Distinguished Visiting Research Fellow at the National University of Singapore; Member, Board of Trustees, International Crisis Group; and, a Distinguished Fellow, Asia Society Policy Institute, New York.

Jeff Moon

President China Moon Strategic LLC and
Former Assistant US Trade
Representative for China

Lawyer, Diplomat, Business Executive, Trade Negotiator & Consultant. More than three decades of international government affairs experience in the public & private sectors, with time split equally between Washington, D.C. & overseas. Foreign assignments: China (10 yrs), Thailand (3 yrs), Guatemala (2 yrs), and Nepal (1 yr).

William (Lee) Howell

Visiting Associate Professor
University of Geneva and
Senior Advisor to the President
World Economic Forum

Lee Howell is Visiting Associate Professor at the University of Geneva's School of Economics and Management and Senior Advisor to the President at the World Economic Forum (WEF) in Switzerland. From January 2009 until July 2021, Lee was the Managing Director responsible for the WEF’s global programming and for the editorial leadership, event design and operational management of their Annual Meeting in Davos, Switzerland.

Lee also served as Editor-in-Chief of their Global Risks Report and was also the Forum’s Senior Director for Asia responsible for business and government engagement for ASEAN, China, Japan, India, Pakistan, and South Korea from 2004 thru 2009.

Lee has served in senior advisory and consulting roles at the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR). He was also a Fellow at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) in Washington, DC and the Deputy Director of the Japan Society in New York City. Lee completed his PhD at the University of St. Gallen and co-founded their CEMS graduate seminar on Disruption and Innovation in International Business. Lee is also member of the Board of Trustees of the EAT Foundation in Oslo, Norway.

Richard Verma

General Counsel and Head of Global Public
Policy Law, Franchise and Integrity
Mastercard

Rich Verma is the General Counsel and Head of Global Public Policy for Mastercard. In this role, he oversees the company's law and policy functions in the United States and around the world. Rich brings over 25 years of international experience across senior levels of business, law, diplomacy and the military. He is a member of the company's Management Committee.

Rich previously served as the U.S. Ambassador to India, where he led one of the largest U.S. diplomatic missions and championed historic progress in bilateral cooperation on defense, trade, and clean energy. He is a former Assistant Secretary of State and he also worked on Capitol Hill as the National Security Advisor to the Senate Majority Leader.

He practiced law for many years at Steptoe & Johnson in Washington, D.C. and is the former Vice Chairman of The Asia Group, a leading international consulting firm. In addition, Rich is a veteran of the U.S. Air Force, and the recipient of a number of military awards and civilian decorations, including the Meritorious Service Medal and the State Department's Distinguished Service Award.

Rich is a Senior Fellow at Harvard University's Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs and a trustee of Lehigh University. He serves on a number of boards and commissions, including the T. Rowe Price corporate board and the National Endowment for Democracy board of directors.

Rich holds multiple degrees, including his doctorate (Ph.D.) from Georgetown University and his law degree (J.D.) from American University.

Ophira Bhatia

Director - Corporate & Government Affairs
(CGA), India & CGA Lead, Asia, Middle East & Africa
Mondelez International

Ophira Bhatia is Director, Corporate and Government Affairs (CGA), India and CGA Lead, Asia, Middle East & Africa (AMEA) at Mondelēz International. She is a member of the India and AMEA regional leadership teams. Ophira is also a member of the Global CGA Leadership Team and Mondelēz International Extended Leadership Team.

In addition to leading the function for India, Ophira is the Lead for the Corporate and Government Affairs function for the Asia, Middle East and Africa for Mondelez International which comprises six business units including China, India, Australia, New Zealand and Japan (JANZ), Southeast Asia, Sub Saharan Africa and Middle East, North Africa and Pakistan (MENAP).

Earlier at Mondelēz International, Ophira also led CGA for Southeast Asia and the Asia Pacific Chocolate Category, in addition to India.

Ophira has been in the corporate communications industry for over 25 years and has consulted and worked with a range of both Indian and multinational clients in multiple markets. In her current role, she oversees the company’s corporate reputation programme, public and government affairs, internal and external communications, community and sustainability, issues and crisis management.

Prior to joining the company, Cadbury Kraft Foods in 2011, Ophira was Director, Mumbai and Lead of the Corporate Practice at Edelman, the world’s largest independent public relations firm, and was responsible for the agency’s growth and development in India.

Ophira was identified as one of the ten global Rising Stars by The Holmes Report. She has also been recognized by Reputation Today as the 2020 Top 25 Most Important Professionals in Indian Public Relations and Corporate Communications; by exchange4media as Top 100 Influential Game Changers in Public Relations and Corporate Communications; and by Ad Gully India TV Powerful Influencer in Public Relations.

Bhaskar Sharma

Chief Executive Officer
Red Bull India Private Limited

Bhaskar is an Asian business leader and marketing expert with a passion for accelerating business growth in companies, particularly in emerging markets across Asia Pacific, Africa and Middle East. His depth of experience in the region includes general management expertise, holistic market development and building high performance teams.

His background includes over 30 years with FMCG companies such as Red Bull, Unilever Bestfoods and JV with Ajinomoto, in Marketing, Sales and General Management in three highly competitive geographies of India, Greater China and South East Asia, leading diverse multi-cultural, multi-functional teams.

Throughout his career, Bhaskar has applied his strategic and analytical thinking to redefine category source of growth and translating insights into financially viable multi-million-dollar businesses. He has taken several stagnant and nascent brands and transformed the growth curves by introducing relevant innovations such as building the energy drink market ground up, in India, ‘scratch conversion’ micro-marketing in SEA and breakthrough in innovative cooking products in China, robustly growing the portfolios even bucking the macro economic trends.

In his current role as Director and Chief Executive Officer of Red Bull India, he is building a global brand and a new category in India. In past ten years, Bhaskar has built a high calibre team; brought brand’s iconic global marketing mix to India and developed strong local marketing assets to make business profitable and grown it almost tenfold, both in availability footprint & consumer reach building key brand indices among Indian youth. He has led the complete set-up of company’s own Sales and Distribution network in the complex yet rewarding environment in India.

Bhaskar strongly believes in the social impact of the business for a sustainable growth. In his current role, as part of the brand credo of Giving Wings to people and their ideas, he has spearheaded promoting healthy lifestyle through building sports, both global, like football and cricket, and local ones like kabaddi and human pyramiding, at the very grass root level.

An Indian, Bhaskar is educated in India completing double post-graduation degrees and currently based in Mumbai, India with his wife. His two daughters are pursuing their careers in United States of America.

Sanjoy Roy

Managing Director
Teamwork Arts

Sanjoy K. Roy, an entrepreneur of the arts, is the Managing Director of Teamwork Arts, which produces over 33 highly acclaimed performing arts, visual arts and literary festivals across 40 cities in countries such as Australia, Canada, Egypt, France, Germany, Hong Kong, Italy, Singapore, South Africa, Spain, UK and USA, including the world’s largest free literary gathering — the annual Jaipur Literature Festival. Roy has received the National Award for Excellence and Best Director for the film Shahjahanabad: The Twilight Years. 

He is a founder trustee of Salaam Baalak Trust (SBT) working to provide support services for street and working children in the inner city of Delhi where over 55,000 children have benefited from education, training and residential services. In 2011, the White House presented SBT the US President’s Committee of Arts and Humanities Award for an International Organisation.  

Roy works closely with various industry bodies and Government on policy issues within the Creative Industries and Cultural Sector in India and is a senior office bearer on several committees working on policy infrastructure for the creative industries - he is Co-chair of the Art and Culture Committee of the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI) and former President of Event and Entertainment Management Association (EEMA) and an advisor to the Arts Council of England Diversity board for theatre. He is on the advisory council of various International Agencies, Federations and Universities.

Roy has lectured and works in collaboration with Universities including those of Western Australia, DUT, Brisbane, Monash, University of Chicago, Harvard, MIT Media lab, Admas, Symbiosis, University of Houston, Columbia College, London School of Economics, University of York, Swansea, etc.

Pavan K Varma

Author, Diplomat and
Former MP (Rajya Sabha)

A writer- diplomat, Mr. Pawan Varma was an Advisor to CM of Bihar with rank of Cabinet Minister. Untill recently he was an MP in Rajya Sabha. He is also author of several books, ambassador in several countries, Director of the Nehru Centre in London, Official Spokesperson of the MEA, and Press Secretary to the President of India and National Spokesman of the Janata Dal (United). Pawan K Varma was conferred an Honorary Doctoral Degree for his contribution to the fields of diplomacy, literature, culture and aesthetics by the University of Indianapolis in 2005. He was also awarded by His Majesty the King of Bhutan, the Druk Thuksey Award, Bhutan’s highest civilian Award.

Adrian Ellis

Director, AEA Consulting and
Chair, Global Cultural District Network (GCDN)

Adrian is the founder of AEA Consulting (1990) and the Global Cultural Districts Network (2013).

Adrian is a noted speaker and writer who has been profiled in the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, and Crain’s New York Business. In addition to consulting globally with clients across the cultural, public, and business sectors, Adrian lectures and writes widely, and he has been featured in numerous distinguished forums including The International New York Times Art for Tomorrow Conference, The Independent,

 The New Statesman, London Essays, The Art Newspaper, Fortune, The Salzburg Seminar, Blouin Creative Leadership Summit, Demos, the Lord Mayor of Sydney’s Annual Design Excellence Forum, the J. Paul Getty Trust, The Clark Art Seminar, the Canadian Arts Summit, New Cities Summit, REMIX Summit, and annual conferences of the American Institute of Architects, International Society for the Performing Arts, and many others.

Adrian is a board member of Poets House in New York, and a past board member of the Getty Leadership Institute, the Association of Performing Arts Presenters, The Kaufman Center and Pathé Pictures. He currently serves on the International Advisory Committee of the master’s program in International Arts Management, a joint program of Southern Methodist University, HEC Montreal, and Bocconi University. Adrian is a past member of the Governing Council of the National Museums and Galleries of Wales, and the Royal Institute of British Architects’ Architecture Centre Committee. He has been a Scholar in Residence at Columbia University and has taught arts administration for Boston University, New York University, National Arts Strategies, and the Clore Fellows Programme.

A lifelong jazz fanatic, Adrian served as Executive Director of Jazz at Lincoln Center from 2007 to 2011. Prior to founding AEA, he served as Executive Director of The Conran Foundation in London, where he planned and managed the creation of the Design Museum. He began his career as a civil servant in the UK Treasury and the Cabinet Office, where he worked on service-wide efficiency reviews and privatisation, and ran the office of the Economic Secretary to the Treasury. Adrian received his B.A. (first class) and M.A. degrees at University College, Oxford, where he served as a College Lecturer in Politics; and completed additional graduate work at London School of Economics.

Adrian is a graduate of National Arts Strategies Chief Executive Program. In 2012, the Jazz Journalists Association named him Jazz Hero of the Year.

Anjana Somany

Craft Council of India and Mango Tree,
Somany Tiles

Anjana Somany brings forth her strengths, learning and commitment through forty years in the field of craft and textiles. She is Founder-Director Mango Tree Tours and Exhibitions, a Company involved in craft and design, imparting education with a difference through curated cultural study tours and workshops that create cultural awareness amongst youth. Its recently launched branch, Craft Stories Under the Mango Tree, comprises of events and exhibitions which value cultural diversity, promote cultural engagement, sustain traditional knowledge and nurture artistic expressions.

An avid researcher, she has presented several papers at both National and International fora and assisted in craft publications. Anjana’s curatorial signature are her internationally held researched historical exhibitions that connect to our living craft traditions.

She is Past National President FICCI-FLO, Immediate Past President of the Delhi Crafts Council and is on the Advisory Board of Creative Dignity, an all India impact and outreach group for artisans, formed during the pandemic, a Board member of Somaiya Kala Vidya, a unique design school for artisans and CSR Head of Somany Ceramics Ltd, one of the largest manufacturer of tiles and sanitaryware in India.

Exhibitions Curation and Talks

International exhibitions curated:

Cultural Study Tours

Mango Tree’s specially designed cultural tours are typically accompanied by a scholar guide of repute to view the historical or craft sites through the eyes of an expert. Some of the tours undertaken

Music and Theatre, Events and Workshops

Anjana has been prominent in the culture field in each city she has lived in.

CSR at Somany Ceramics

CSR activities of Somany, spans several villages near the Company’s facilities in Gujarat and Haryana. Some of the programmes spearheaded-

Philanthropic Work

Through her Mother’s and her own Foundation, she reaches out to the disadvantaged, with a focus on education that helps nurture responsible citizens. Some of these are-

Education

History and Political Science graduate from Kolkata University; Honours Diploma in Art History from the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London.

Personal Growth

A mother of three with a large age gap between each child, has helped her grow, experience, and adapt to the changing world. A firm believer in the phrase ‘learning is for a lifetime’, Anjana continues to learn through both experiential and academic endeavours.

Rashmi Dhanwani

Founder & CEO
Art X Company and Arts & Culture Resources
India

Rashmi Dhanwani is the Founder and CEO of the Art X Company, a strategic consultancy for the cultural sector focused on strategy, audience development, and sector research. Prior to founding Art X Company, Rashmi has worked with NCPA Mumbai, Breakthrough in Delhi, the newspaper Daily News and Analysis (DNA); Kalaghoda Arts Festival, and The Goa Project.

She holds a Masters in Cultural and Creative Industries from King’s College London. She has also been a recipient of the ARThink South Asia Fellowship (2011-12), a participant fellow at ‘The Academy—a program of Carnegie Hall, The Juilliard School and the Weill Music Institute’, a scholarship grantee of the JN Tata Trust and Charles Wallace India Trust, and a 2017 Global Fellow of the International Society for Performing Arts (ISPA), New York.

Rashmi has also founded Arts Culture Resources India (an Art X Company initiative), a network and platform for cultural professionals in India and South Asia.

Rashmi is a partner at ArtBramha Consulting LLP, the consortium behind developing India's first-ever website dedicated to arts and culture festivals — Festivals From India. The portal is supported by British Council India.

Rajeev Batra

Past President & Founding Member, PAFI and
Former Group Head, Corporate Affairs
Hindustan Unilever Limited

Rajeev Batra has more than 36 years of work experience, a work career focused towards managing Corporate Affairs, Issues Management and Policy Advocacy for business enterprises.

He retired as the Group Head of Corporate Affairs function at Hindustan Unilever Limited. Earlier, in his immediately previous assignment, he was the Head of the Corporate Affairs at Asian Paints Ltd. He is presently engaged in an advisory role with various cos. and is an active international investor.

Rajeev is also the Co-founder and a former President of Public Affairs Forum of India (PAFI), the only suchlike forum of Public Affairs professionals in the country. This Forum is dedicated to propagating & building platforms for conduct of transparent & ethical public affairs in the country

Having earned his MBA from the University Business School in 1981, he is currently pursuing an Executive Doctorate in Business Administration (PhD) on Leadership Styles of Indian MNCs.

Ram Rakkappan

Head, Government Relations – India and South Asia,
Visa Inc

Rahul Sharma

Past President & Founding Member, PAFI and
Managing Director
APCO Worldwide, India

Rahul is presently the Managing Director of APCO Worldwide, India, and brings more than three decades of experience in media and public affairs to the table.

Formerly, President, Rediffusion Communications, Rahul was earlier President, Public Affairs, South Asia, at Genesis Burson-Marsteller where he led policy and political campaigns. He was also associated with the industry body FICCI. As a public affairs expert, he has worked with clients across sectors, advising them on policy and crisis issues.

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.

Rahul has co-edited a book A New Cold War: Henry Kissinger and the Rise of China and has written extensively on global and regional financial markets and economic issues. His subject interests include foreign policy, international relations and public policy processes.

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

Ruchir Sharma

Global Investor and Author

Ruchir Sharma is Head of Emerging Markets and Chief Global Strategist at Morgan Stanley Investment Management. He typically spends one week every month traveling the world, visiting different countries, meeting with leading politicians, CEOs, and other local characters.

Sharma has been a writer for longer than he has been an investor. At age 17 he started writing  for India’s largest economic daily, The Economic Times. 

His commentary has since appeared in The Wall Street Journal, The Financial Times, The Washington Post, Foreign Affairs, Foreign Policy, Bloomberg and The Guardian, among others. He has been a contributing opinion writer at Newsweek International and the New York Times and is currently a contributing editor at the Financial Times.  

Sharma is the author of four decades. His most recent, The 10 Rules of Successful Nations, was published by Norton in 2020. It is an updated and abridged adaptation of The Rise and Fall of Nations: Forces of Change in the Post-Crisis World, which was released in 2016 and instantly became a New York Times best seller. In 2012, his first book, Breakout Nations: In Pursuit of the Next Economic Miracles, debuted as the number one bestseller in India, and earned Sharma the Tata Literature Live! First Book Award for 2012. Breakout Nations also made the Wall Street Journal hardcover business bestseller list, and was chosen by Foreign Policy as one of its “21 Books to Read in 2012”.

Bloomberg named Ruchir one of the top 50 Most Influential people in the world in October 2015. In 2012, Sharma was selected as one of the top global thinkers by Foreign Policy magazine and in June 2013, India’s premier weekly magazine Outlook named Sharma as one of The World’s 25 Smartest Indians. The World Economic Forum in Davos selected him as one of the world’s “Top Young Leaders” in 2007. GQ India named Ruchir the Global Indian of the Year in 2016.

Ruchir is passionate about politics and has covered every national election in India, and many major state contests, going back to 1998. He led the first trip with three journalist friends, and the pack has since grown to 20 regulars and a few guest travelers. They typically travel a 1,000 miles over a week, and have interviewed everyone from local voters to  national leaders, including Narendra Modi and the Gandhis. These travels are captured in his 2019 book, Democracy on the Road: a 25-year Journey Through India.

Ruchir’s other interests include athletics and he continues to train for the 100 and 200 meters sprints. No matter where he is in the world, or how hectic his schedule, Ruchir tries not to miss a single day of training. In 2011, he represented India in the World Masters Athletic championship in Sacramento. Ruchir also has a keen interest in wildlife and in international cinema and attends major film festivals when he can find a moment away from investing, writing and running.

T S Vishwanath

Past President & Founding Member, PAFI,
Principal Adviser, APJ-SLG Law Offices (ASL) and
Co-Founder RV-VeKommunicate

He focusses on all policy and regulatory issues and advices industry and governments on the impact of global economic and trade policies. He is also a contributor of research papers to think tanks and writes analytical pieces in newspapers.

Ishteyaque Amjad

Past President and Managing Committee Member PAFI and
Group Global Head –Corporate Affairs
Godrej Group

Ishteyaque Amjad, Immediate Past President PAFI, is the Group Global Head of Corporate Affairs at Godrej Group.

He spearheads the practice, and his charter includes government relations, policy advocacy and external affairs.

With a career spanning over two decades, Ishteyaque has had the opportunity to work across a diverse set of industries through stints both in India and overseas in organizations such as Coca-Cola, Cargill, HCL and Essar Group. He started his career at the Indian Army.

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, he is a member of CII’s National Committee on Real Estate and FICCI’s National FMCG Committee. He has served on the Board of Management of TERI School of Advanced Studies and has been a jury at the Cannes Lions the Festival of Creativity. He completed his postgraduation from SIMS Pune, graduated with a bachelor’s degree in Economics from AMU, Aligarh 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.

Navika Kumar

Group Editor, Times Network,
Editor-In-Chief, Times Now Navbharat

Navika Kumar is an Indian journalist, news anchor and media personality.

She is a Group Editor Politics at Times Network and hosts the prime time show “The Newshour” on Times Now news channel.

She is responsible for driving political reporting strategy for the Network’s brands like Timesnownews.com, Mirror Now and ET Now.

Born on 11 March 1978, Navika Kumar’s age is 42 years as of 2021.

She was born and brought up in a well-to-do family from Sindri, Jharkhand, India.

She completed her initial schooling at Carmel School, Digwadih, Jharkhand. After that, she enrolled herself at the Gokhale Institute of Politics and Economics, Pune from where she completed her Master’s of Arts in Political and Economics.

She is termed as one of the best political and investigative journalists in India. She is working with the Times Now news channel and also become its brand ambassador.

Ambassador Taranjit Singh Sandhu

Ambassador of India to the United States of America

Ambassador Taranjit Singh Sandhu is one of the most experienced Indian diplomats on US affairs, having served in the Indian Mission in Washington DC twice earlier.

He was Deputy Chief of Mission at the Embassy of India in Washington DC from July 2013 to January 2017.

Earlier, he was First Secretary (Political) at the Embassy of India, Washington, DC responsible for liaison with the United States Congress from 1997 to 2000. He has also been at the Permanent Mission of India to United Nations, New York from July 2005 to February 2009.

Prior to his current assignment in Washington DC, Ambassador Sandhu was High Commissioner of India to Sri Lanka from January 2017 to January 2020. He had also served at the High Commission of India, Colombo earlier as the Head of the Political Wing from December 2000 to September 2004.

Ambassador Sandhu was Consul General of India in Frankfurt from September 2011 to July 2013. He has worked in the Ministry of External Affairs in various capacities: as Joint Secretary (United Nations) from March 2009 to August 2011; and later as Joint Secretary (Administration) heading the Human Resource Division. He was Officer on Special Duty (Press Relations), Ministry of External Affairs from December 1995 to March 1997, and was responsible for liaison with foreign media in India.

In a distinguished career spanning over thirty years in the Indian Foreign Service since 1988, Ambassador Sandhu started his diplomatic career from former Soviet Union (Russia) where he worked as Third Secretary (Political) / Second Secretary (Commercial) in the Indian Mission from 1990 to 1992. Following the breakup of Soviet Union, he was sent to open a new Embassy in Ukraine. He served as Head of Political and Administration Wings in Indian Embassy in Kiev from 1992 to 1994.

Born on 23 January 1963 in a family of educationists, Ambassador Sandhu studied at The Lawrence School, Sanawar and graduated with History Honors from St. Stephens' College, Delhi. He pursued a Master’s Degree in International Relations at the Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi. Ambassador Sandhu is married to Mrs. Reenat Sandhu, who is Ambassador of India to Italy. They have two children. His interests include books, movies and outdoor sports.

Ambassador Sandhu assumed charge as Ambassador to the United States on February 3, 2020.

Ambassador Sandhu presented his credentials to the President of the United States of America, H.E. Mr. Donald Trump at the Oval office of the White House on 6 February 2020.

Vinita Sethi

Treasurer, PAFI and
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, reinvent & transform healthcare, she has been engaged with other global stakeholders at the World Economic Forum, and is also additional director on the board of Foundation for Innovative New Diagnostics, FIND-India.

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 master’s in Economics from the Delhi School of Economics (1985-87), followed by master’s 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 Member, Advisory Board- Women Intech Delhi Chapter; one of co-conveners of the Women’s Mentorship forum in FICCI-FLO led “Empowering the Greater 50% initiative” and is also working on digital inclusion programmes for women in education & financial literacy across the country.

Rajeev Chandrasekhar

Minister of State for Electronics and IT and
Skill Development and Entrepreneurship
Government of India

Rajeev Chandrasekhar (born 31 May 1964) is Minister of State for Skill Development and Entrepreneurship and Minister of State for Electronics and Information Technology.

He is an Indian politician and entrepreneur, technocrat and a Member of Parliament in the upper house (Rajya Sabha) from Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) representing Karnataka.

Born in Ahmedabad, Gujarat to Air Commodore M. K. Chandrasekhar and Mrs. Valli Chandrasekhar, Rajeev studied in various schools across India, and studied electrical engineering at Manipal Institute of Technology.

He completed Masters in Computer Science in 1988 from Illinois Institute of Technology, Chicago.

He was handpicked by Vinod Dham to Intel and he worked there from 1988 to 1991. At Intel, he was part of architectural team that designed I486 processor. He also completed an advance management program from Harvard University.

In 1991 after returning to India, he became part of BPL Group. In 1994, Chandrasekhar founded BPL Mobile, one of the major telecom companies in India then with license over places such as Mumbai. In July 2005, he sold his 64 percent stake in BPL Communications to Essar Group for US$1.1 billion. Rajeev founded Jupiter Capital in 2005, with an initial investment of US$100 million, and currently has investments and managed assets of over US$800 million in technology, media, hospitality, and entertainment.

In April 2013, Chandrasekhar was awarded an honorary doctorate by Visvesvaraya Technological University, Belgaum, for his work as an entrepreneur.

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.

Educational Qualifications:

Rajeev was an Independent member of Rajya Sabha representing Karnataka from April 2006 to April 2018. In April 2018, he was re-elected to the Rajya Sabha from Karnataka for a third six-year term as a BJP member. He has advocated for governance reforms, institution building, Internet freedom, national security, welfare of the Armed Forces Personnel and sustainable development of Bangalore and Karnataka.

In Parliament, Rajeev is a vocal advocate of Governance, Technology and Economics. As a first-term MP, he was the first one to raise corruption like 2G Scam in parliament and is outspoken on issues that concern Governance. Rajeev focuses on Reforms in Economy and Governance, Technology, and Internet, Issues related to youth, and issues concerning national security and sustainable city governance of Bengaluru.

Rajeev's political work focuses on protecting Bengaluru and Bengalureans' interests with Urban Governance issues, Transforming India through Governance and Economic reforms, Veteran and Armed Forces issues, Protecting our Children etc. For causes he believes in and supports, he has - apart from raising these in Parliament, actively approached the courts to intervene on behalf of citizens as in the case of Sec 66A, Aadhaar privacy issues and voting rights for Armed Forces. He is an active MP and his work and its effects are available through periodic report cards. He is widely recognized as the most Informed and active MP on Digital India, Internet and Technology issues, Spectrum Allocation, Net Neutrality, Consumer rights in cyber space policies and regulatory matters and is unafraid to dive into issues that need support after informing himself well on these.

Additionally, he has focused on and taken up a wide array of macro-economic and micro-economic issues that include restructuring of Public Sector Banks, creating Transparency in the management of Public Assets and repairing key sectors in the economy to revive growth amongst others.

It was his relentless campaign and later a petition in the Supreme Court that led to Armed Forces personnel getting the right to vote in their place of posting in the 2014 General Elections and further electoral reforms to bring the facility of e-Postal Ballot to Armed Forces. After the Uri Terror attack in September 2016, he was the first MP in India to have challenged the MFN status granted to Pakistan and submitted a Private Member's Bill in the Rajya Sabha on 18 November 2016 titled: "The Declaration of Countries as Sponsor of Terrorism Bill, 2016". In February 2016, Rajeev was felicitated by the General Officer Commanding-in- Chief, Western Command, Lt Gen KJ Singh, PVSM, AVSM (Bar) with the GOC-in- C Commendation Card at HQ Western Command, Chandigarh for his support and work for the Armed Forces, veterans, and their families.

He was nominated for UK's prestigious Index Freedom of Expression Award for 2013, in the category of Digital Freedom for fighting against internet censorship in India and challenging legislation that will stifle digital freedom.

A brief timeline of Rajeev’s parliamentary journey:

Richard Hopkins

Senior VP, Consumer Devices Segment and
India Operations
Flex

Richard Hopkins is Senior Vice President of Consumer Devices and India Operations at Flex, the global manufacturing partner of choice that helps a diverse customer base design and build products to improve the world.

In his capacity, he leads the consumer devices segment, focused on mobile phones, audio devices, laptops, and set-top boxes.

In addition, Mr. Hopkins manages all aspects of Flex’s operation in India including product manufacturing and services.

Mr. Hopkins has spent the last nine years at Flex in various leadership positions in operations, manufacturing, and general management.

Mr. Hopkins was the COO of YTWO Formative Inc., a Flex funded joint venture focused on digitization and supply chain optimization for the construction industry. Over the last 20+ years, he has held additional leadership positions at Oracle / Sun Microsystems, FRIWO Mobile Power, X-10 Electronic and Astec.

His core expertise centres on manufacturing and operations in North / South China, Malaysia, and India. Mr. Hopkins holds a bachelor’s degree in engineering from Coventry Polytechnic, U.K. He is also a board member at Flex’s ODM partner, Bluebank.

Virat Bhatia

Vice President, PAFI and
Managing Director
Apple India

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). He chairs the FICCI National Committee on ICT and Mobile Manufacturing and serves on its National Executive Committee. In 2014, the UN Secretary General appointed him to the Multistakeholder Advisory Group of the UN Internet Governance Forum (UNIGF). In the past, he has held the position of Vice President of the Commission on ICT of the Paris-based International Chamber of Commerce (ICC), and that of 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.

Chetan Krishnaswamy

Managing Committee Member, PAFI and
Vice President, Indian 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”.

Shagufta Kamran

Senior Manager, Public Policy & Philanthropy
Twitter India

Shagufta has close to 13+ years of experience in public policy, policy advocacy, government affairs, and strategic planning.

She has been with Twitter for over 2 years and is responsible for engaging with the government, industry, and academia.

She supports and represents thought leadership on policy issues relevant to Twitter such as intermediary protection, net neutrality, privacy and data protection.

She joined Twitter from the U.S. India Strategic Partnership Forum where she was responsible for shaping and leading the policy discourse on behalf of industry in verticals including technology, media, and telecommunications. Prior to this, she has had a diverse experience with Intel, MAIT, CII in areas like Digital, ICT for Development, Skilling & Capacity Building, Ease of Doing Business, Public Procurement, Sustainability and State-level engagements.

She is a graduate in Political Science from Lady Shri Ram College and has done her master’s in Social Work from Delhi School of Social Work, Delhi University. She is also a Diploma holder in Conflict Transformation and Peace Building.

Manish Patel

Vice President, India Operations
DHL Express India

DHL Express is part of Deutsche Post DHL Group. Deutsche Post DHL Group is the world's leading logistic company.

It employs approximately 570,000 people in over 220 countries and territories worldwide.

After being in very senior profiles in Sri Lanka and Singapore Mr. Patel has returned to India in his current profile to help drive growth and development in the highly competitive and demanding sector of International Express logistics.

He leads teams that enable pick-up, processing, transportation, customs clearance and delivery through DHL’s international express network infrastructure as per DHL’s globally established quality standards.

In his earlier roles, he has worked as Senior Director – Sales Development for Asia Pacific countries excluding China and as Country Manager for Sri Lanka and the Maldives. He has been with DHL for more than 20 years having started with responsibilities in sales and marketing in India.

Mr. Patel has an MBA in Marketing and holds a Bachelor’s degree in Mechanical Engineering from Gujarat University. He is based in Mumbai with his family.

Pranjal Sharma

Economic Analyst, Advisor and Author

PRANJAL SHARMA is an economic analyst, advisor and author who focuses on technology, globalisation and media.

He serves on boards of enterprises and non-profit entities which are leveraging emerging technologies for sustainable, equitable growth.

Pranjal leads public discourse at global and national platforms including World Economic Forum, St Gallen Symposium, Horasis Global Meeting and AIMA.

He served as a member of the Global Agenda Council at the WEF for eight years.

He is a member of its expert network and a regular speaker at Davos. He is also a member of The Outstanding Speakers Bureau.

Pranjal also guides projects on economic forecasting, business intelligence & public diplomacy to interpret policy impact on industry and society. He has co-founded GoFar Growth Advisory. He has written and edited several reports and papers on economic development. Pranjal is a columnist with Business Standard newspaper and BusinessWorld magazine among other publications.

His new book is India Automated: How the Fourth Industrial Revolution Transforming India. His previous book Kranti Nation: India and The Fourth Industrial Revolution, published in 2017 was the first to chronicle the impact of emerging technologies in India. Pranjal was also the co-author of The Z Factor.

He has served as Advisor Strategy to India's public service broadcaster Prasar Bharati, (Ministry of Information & Broadcasting, Government of India) where he helped bring in industry best practices and enabled creation of digital media teams.

Previously, he spent more than two decades in print, internet and TV media, mostly in leadership roles with focus on India’s economic engagement with the world. As Founding Executive Editor at Bloomberg UTV, he helped launch and run the channel. At TV Today Network, his team pioneered business news content for non-English audiences. Pranjal received the News Television Award for best business show in 2007. He lives in New Delhi, India.

KT Rama Rao

Cabinet Minister for IT E&C, MA&UD and
Industries and Commerce Department
Government of Telangana

Sri Kalvakuntla Taraka Rama Rao, the Cabinet Minister for IT E&C, MA&UD and Industries & Commerce Departments, is a legislator from Sircilla Assembly Constituency.

He got elected from the Sircilla constituency in 2009, 2014 and 2018. Sri K.T. Rama Rao was born on July 24, 1976 in Siddipet, Telangana.

He has completed his schooling from St. George’s Grammar School, Hyderabad and earned the Bachelor’s Degree in Microbiology from Nizam College, Hyderabad.

He has two post-graduate degrees – M.Sc. in Biotechnology from the University of Pune and MBA in Marketing and e-Commerce from Baruch College-City, University of New York, New York.

Prior to Ministry: After completing his MBA, Sri K.T. Rama Rao worked in the US for six years – from 2001 to 2006. Riding on keen observation of politics since childhood, global exposure and rich professional experience, Sri K.T. Rama Rao jumped into the bandwagon of fulltime politics in 2006. He played an active part in the fruitful phase of Telangana Statehood movement between 2009 and 2014.

Sri Rama Rao held key ministerial portfolios in the previous cabinet between 2014 and 2018. On 2nd June, 2014, he was sworn-in as Minister for IT, Panchayat Raj & Rural Development. Sri KT Rama Rao took charge of Municipal Administration & Urban Development, Industries & Commerce, Mining, and NRI affairs Departments in 2016 and was relieved from Panchayat Raj and Rural Development Department. Sri KT Rama Rao was reinducted into the Telangana Cabinet on 8th September, 2019 as the Minister for IT, Industries & Commerce and Municipal Administration & Urban Development.

Unflinching resolve, commitment and inclination to fight for the welfare and development of the State made Sri K.T. Rama Rao to work with wide spectrum of industry and political leaders in India and abroad. He has provided visionary leadership and put in relentless efforts in reimagining and reorienting the Departments he was assigned. As the Minister for IT, Sri K.T. Rama Rao has come up with a comprehensive plan to cater to the multi-dimensional requirements of the IT industry and has been backed by his dedicated and competent officers and staff. Several initiatives have been launched under his able leadership since 2014.

Flagship Initiatives:

Sri K.T. Rama Rao, a devout public servant with remarkable vision and unfettered passion, has been striving to transform the nascent Telangana into Golden Telangana - a euphemism for the all-round development of the State.

K.T. Rama Rao received Audi-Ritz Inspirational Icon of the Year Award (Politics) for 2015, SKOCH Challenger Award in the Start-up India category for Telangana’s path-breaking initiative T-Hub, and SKOCH Best Performing IT Minister Award for the year 2020.

Jayesh Ranjan

Principal Secretary
Industries & Commerce (I&C) and
Information Technology, Electronics and
Communications (ITE&C)
Government of Telangana

Mr. Jayesh Ranjan is a member of the Indian Administrative Service (IAS) of the 1992 batch and working in the state of Telangana.

He holds a Masters Degree in Psychology from Delhi University, a degree in Business Management from the Indian Institute of Management, Calcutta, and a Masters in Public Management from Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy, National University of Singapore.

He has also done short courses in the University of Birmingham (on Environmental Policy Analysis), JICA training Institute, Tokyo (on lake remediation), London School of Economics (on Globalization and Leadership), Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University (in Public Policy), and Swedish Institute, Stockholm (on Sustainability and CSR).

He is the All-India topper of his IAS batch of 1992. He was awarded World Bank’s Social Capital Visiting Scholarship in 2002 and the British Government’s Gurukul Chevening Scholarship in 2005. He has done international consultancy assignments for the World Bank, UN-ESCAP, Sedatu project of Mexico, and for international NGOs working for Youth Issues like YES, Inc of the USA and NMC from Italy. He is a part of the National Pool of Trainers in Leadership constituted by the Government of India, and is involved in training and mentoring newly recruited Civil Servants. Among his other distinctions, he was awarded the Royal Order of the Polar Star by His Majesty The King of Sweden in 2019 for promoting Swedish business interests in India including the opening of IKEA’s first Indian store in Hyderabad.

Jayesh Ranjan is the Principal Secretary of the Industries & Commerce (I&C) and Information Technology (IT) Departments of the Telangana government. His assignment involves developing policy frameworks, attracting new investments, identifying opportunities for utilizing IT in various government processes, and promoting the digital empowerment of the citizens. His last few assignments have been in the Industrial Promotion sector as Commissioner and MD of the Industries Department, Secretary in the Tourism Promotion Department, and Vice-Chairman of the Hyderabad Urban Development Authority (HUDA), all for 2-3 years each, and various rural assignments in different parts of the state for over 12 years, working in diverse sectors like Tribal Development, Natural Resources Management, Poverty Alleviation and other related Social Development Sectors.

Jayesh Ranjan supports many social, cultural and charitable causes, and is on the Boards/Advisory committees of United Way (Hyderabad), Save A Child’s Heart (SACH) Foundation, Young Lives India, Save the Children, Sparsh Hospice, APMAS, ML Jaisimha Sports Foundation, Hyderabad 10 K Foundation, Vijaya Foundation Trust, Ushalakshmi Breast Cancer Foundation, LSN Foundation, Tejas Foundation, Magic Bus Hyderabad, World Wildlife Fund (Hyderabad chapter), Hyderabad Literary Festival. Spic-Macay. Heal a Child Foundation, Moving Images, Society to Aid the Hearing Impaired (SAHI), and Institute of Public Enterprises (IPE).

Dilip Chenoy

Secretary General
FICCI

Dilip is currently Secretary General of the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI).

He leads the permanent secretariat of the industry chamber, which is the largest and oldest apex business organisation in India, and a potent voice for policy change.

FICCI represents over 2,50,000 members through Member Bodies covering all the States of India.

Before joining FICCI, Dilip served as Managing Director & CEO of the National Skill Development Corporation (NSDC).

NSDC fosters private sector investment and initiatives in training and skill development.

Dilip has also worked in several key industry organizations, including SIAM as its Director General. He was a member of the Harvard Business School project under Professor Michael Porter that worked on the competitiveness of Indian industry. With varied experiences of working in the private sector, he advices start-ups including organisations in the digital, education, skills and livelihood space. Dilip has also served as Chairman of an Engineering Institute.

A fellow of the World Academy of Productivity Science (WAPS), he was awarded the Indian Achievers Award in 2018, The Game Changer Award in 2015 and the Rashtriya Media Ratan Award in 2013.

Anand Vijay Jha

SVP & Chief Corporate Affairs Officer
United Breweries Limited

An ex-Indian Civil Servant of 1998 (IAS Exam) batch, has done the work of policy making and execution in different Ministries, Departments and Regulatory bodies within the Government of India for two decades.

His profile involved drafting of Rules and Regulations connected with real estate such as Public Private Partnership issues surrounding Risk Allocation; O&M Agreements; Concession Agreements; Escrow Accounts; pertaining to various models of PPP Agreements, Recruitment, Seniority and Promotion, Conduct, Discipline & Appeal Rules; Transaction of Business Regulations and Amendments thereof of Regulatory Authority.

dealt with UPSC, CVC, CBI and ED on multi-sector issues In early 2019, Shri Jha has decided to use his expertise in policy identification, navigating and prioritization, for policy influencing through advocacy advisory during stakeholder’s consultation on ease of doing business issues incl. licensing, Intellectual Property, Privacy and data security, Antitrust, Ethics and Compliance and other laws for Walmart in India.

As the Chief of Corporate Affairs Officer (CCAO) of Walmart A fortune number 1 global corporation, he has had an amazing exposure of working with cross-cultural teams of Walmart spread across several countries in the world. As an Executive Committee (EXCOM) member of Walmart India he has learnt to overcome complex business challenges and making high-stake decisions using experience-backed judgment, strong work ethic and irreproachable integrity. He has developed and updated the Policy Risk Map for Walmart in India and engaged with the Global Corporate Affairs Professionals from countries across the globe.

At Walmart, he was responsible for all external affairs of Walmart in India. He represented Walmart at all ministries, departments, regulators and industry associations such as USIBC, USISPF, AMCHAM, PAFI, RAI FICCI, CII ASSOCHAM. He has also been the Co-Chair of Food-Agri Committee of USIBC and Member of the Retail Committee for CII & FICCI and Ease of Doing Business (EODB) Committee of ASSOCHAM.

Currently, he is working with United Breweries Limited a Heineken Group promoted company as SVP & Chief Corporate Affairs Officer. His work profile involves engagement with key market states Governments on Alco-bev policies. As a CXO of a listed company in India, he participates in all critical business decisions and is responsible for Public Policy and Government Relations of a highly regulated sector.

Academic and Professional Qualification:

Member Oxford University Said B School’s Corporate Affairs Academy

2014 : LLM (International Trade & Commercial Laws from Durham), UK.

2011 : MBA FMS, University of Delhi with specialization in MIS and SAD

2001 : LLB, Campus Law Centre, University of Delhi

1996 : B.Sc. (Mathematics) Honors, University of Delhi

Amitabh Kant

CEO
NITI Aayog

Amitabh Kant is presently CEO of National Institution for Transforming India (NITI Aayog). He is a member of the Indian Administrative Service, IAS (Kerala Cadre: 1980 batch).

He is the author of Branding India-An Incredible Story, Incredible India 2.0 and has edited “The Path Ahead- Transformative Ideas for India”.

Kant has been a key driver of the “Make in India”, Startup India, “Incredible India” and God’s Own Country” initiatives that positioned India and Kerala State as leading manufacturing and tourism destinations.

These campaigns have won several international awards and embraced a host of activities – infrastructure development, product enhancement, private-public partnership and positioning and branding based on extensive market research.

Amitabh Kant has been the Chairman & CEO of the Delhi Mumbai Industrial Corridor Development Corporation (DMICDC). The Delhi Mumbai Industrial Corridor (DMIC) is being developed by the Government of India as a global manufacturing and investment destination supported by world class infrastructure and enabling policy framework. The DMIC project is aimed at the development of futuristic, smart industrial cities in India which will converge and integrate next generation technologies across sectors. The DMIC cities will address not merely the urbanization requirements of India, but with manufacturing as the main economic base, will also contribute significantly to the economic growth of India.

In his capacity as Secretary (Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion) Govt. of India, he vigorously drove the Ease of Doing Business initiative and ranking of States on outcome parameters. These initiatives have led to India making a quantum jump in the World Bank’s Ease of Doing Index and enabled Indian States to compete in the spirit of competitive federalism. He is the Chairman of the Committee to implement Digital Payment in India.

Mr. Kant has been the recipient of Economic Times Policy Change Agent of the Year Award, the Bloomberg TV Personality of the year Award, the NDTV Administrator of the year Award and the Distinguished Fellowship of the Institute of Directors. He is the recipient of One Globe Award-2016 for leadership in Transforming Governance for the 21st Century. He is also the recipient of Sir Edmund Hillary Fellowship awarded by the Prime Minister of New Zealand. He is a Member of the Steering Board of “Shaping the Future of Production Systems” of World Economic Forum. He is also the recipient of Golden Peacock Award for Leadership in Economic Transformation-2017.

Amitabh Kant has worked as CMD – ITDC, Joint Secretary – Ministry of Tourism, Government of India, Secretary – Tourism, Government of Kerala, Managing Director, Kerala State Industrial Development Corporation, District Collector, Kozikhode and Managing Director, Matsyafed. During his tenure in Kerala he structured the Calicut Airport as a private sector project based on User’s Free and developed the BSES Power Project and Mattanchery Bridge under Private Public Partnership. He was also responsible for introducing new technology (fiberglass crafts and outboard motor) in the fisheries sector and launching beach level auctions which substantially enhanced returns to traditional fishermen.

Amitabh Kant did his schooling from Modern School, Delhi, graduation in Economics (Hons) from St. Stephens, Delhi University and M.A from Jawaharlal Nehru University. He is a Chevening Scholar. He has also undertaken a mid-term course with John F. Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University and Indian Institute of Management (IIM), Ahmadabad.

Byju Raveendran

Co-Founder & CEO
Byju’s

Byju Raveendran is the founder of edutech start-up Byju's. Son of physics and mathematics teachers from Azhikode village in Kannur district of Kerala, Raveendran is a former teacher who turned an entrepreneur.

An engineering graduate, he started teaching maths to friends (and whoever else wanted to learn) after spending a couple of years at a shipping company.

He would help students prepare for entrance exams like the common entrance exam (CAT). In 2003, he appeared for CAT himself and scored 100%, despite not studying enough for the exam.

Two years later, he helped some others crack CAT and then decided to take up teaching as a full-time job. Raveendran went from teaching a few friends, to teaching hundreds of students in large auditoriums, and taking classes through satellite communication. He set up Think & Learn in 2011, to offer online lessons, before launching his main app in 2015. In 2018, Byju Raveendran won the EY Entrepreneur of the Year Award (Startup category).

Raveendran’s start-up Byju’s runs on a freemium model and trains students for Indian examinations like IIT-JEE, NEET, CAT and IAS, as well as international ones such as GRE and GMAT. In July, 2019 Byju's acquired Indian cricket team jersey rights.

Today, Byju's has grown into the world's most successful edutech start-ups with 33 million users and 2.2 million paid subscribers. According to data available as on July 2019, its valuation has quadrupled in the past year. That also makes it one of the top five most-valuable internet companies in the country. The present value of this unicorn company is $3.6 billion.

The Byju's app has become a business case at Harvard Business School. It has received several awards, including the Business Standard Annual Award for Corporate Excellence (2018).

Shweta Rajpal Kohli

Chief Public Policy Officer
Sequoia Capital India & South East Asia

As the Head of Public Policy, Shweta works with government stakeholders to craft policies that help accelerate the growth momentum of the startup ecosystem in India & Southeast Asia.

She advises portfolio companies on managing regulatory risks and unlocking new levers of growth.

She also helps create public policy partnerships that align the vision of startup founders and governments.

Before joining Sequoia, Shweta led the public policy function for Salesforce and Uber across South Asia, with a key focus on data privacy, cloud computing regulations, digital payments and ridesharing regulations.

Shweta is a Board Member of WE-Hub, an accelerator for women entrepreneurs set up by the Telangana Government. She is the Co-Chair of the Edtech Taskforce set up by industry body FICCI. She is a Governing Council Member of the Internet and Mobile Association of India (IAMAI).

Shweta was ranked among IMPACT Magazine’s 50 Most Influential Women in 2018. She received the FICCI FLO Women in Leadership Award in 2020, Women in Excellence Award by the Women Economic Forum in 2019, and the Communicator of the Year by Association of Business Communicators of India (ABCI) in 2011.

A British Chevening scholar, she was also awarded the International Visitor Leadership Program (IVLP) Fellowship - the US Department of State’s professional program for global leaders. She was chosen among 45 global leaders for the Asian Forum on Global Governance (AFGG) Fellowship.

Before joining the policy world, Shweta spent two decades as a business journalist and TV news anchor. During her journalism career, she received several honours, including the Ramnath Goenka Journalism Award for Broadcast Journalism by President of India Pratibha Patil and Business Standard-Seema Nazareth Award for Young Print Journalists by President of India KR Narayanan.

Shweta has completed mid-career programs from Wharton Business School, INSEAD Business School, and the University of Westminster. She completed her Bachelors in Journalism from Lady Shri Ram College, holds a Masters in Political Science from Delhi University and a distance learning MBA from XLRI, Jamshedpur.

Shweta is a regular speaker at leading conferences, including World Economic Forum India Summit, MindMine Summit, CyFy India, and the UN Gender Equality Summit.

She lives in New Delhi with her husband and two children.

Medha Girotra

Managing Committee Member, PAFI and
Director – Communications, South Asia
MasterCard

Medha is a communications and advocacy specialist with over two decades of experience across public policy, public diplomacy, integrated marketing communications and corporate reputation management.

She has a deep understanding of policy making, KOL engagement and media led advocacy, and uses her knowledge effectively to build and execute strategic positioning, reputation management and advocacy strategies.

In her role at Mastercard, Medha is responsible for the company’s external engagements, communications, and CSR.

Previously with Edelman and Genesis-BCW, she has worked with a wide range of clients, including some leading names in FMCG, IT/ ITES, energy and infrastructure, consumer electronics, financial services, banking & insurance, space and satellite communications, chemicals, automotive, healthcare and the development sector.

For them, she has managed regulatory affairs, policy advocacy, stakeholder outreach and legislative monitoring & research, facilitating government partnerships and issues & crisis management.

She studied Economics at Lady Sri Ram College, has a Master’s in Business Administration from the International Management Institute, New Delhi. Medha holds a certificate in Public Policy from the Takshashila Foundation.

Ajay Khanna

Forum Chairman & Co-Founder, PAFI and
Group Global Chief Strategic & Public Affairs
Jubilant Bhartia Group

The Jubilant Bhartia Group, has presence in diverse sectors like Pharmaceuticals, Life Science Ingredients and Drug Discovery Services, Performance Polymers, Food Service (QSR), Food, Auto, Consulting in Aerospace and Oilfield Services.

Headquarter in India, the Group has presence in the United States, Canada, Europe, China, Singapore, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh.

Jubilant Pharmova Limited, Jubilant Ingrevia Limited and Jubilant FoodWorks Limited are the flagship companies of the Group. Ajay joined the Group in 2009.

Ajay was founding Chief Executive Officer (2002-2006) of India Brand Equity Foundation (www.ibef.org). This was a unique Public Private Partnership initiative to Promote, Project & Position India’s growth story globally. IBEF, under Ajay’s leadership led “India Everywhere” campaign at the Annual Meeting of the World Economic Forum in Davos in 2006. A number of high profile global initiatives were taken during Ajay's four-year stint as the CEO of IBEF, a joint initiative of Ministry of Commerce, Government of India & Confederation of Indian Industry (CII).

Ajay was Deputy Director General (1999-2008) with the Confederation of Indian Industry (www.cii.in), an apex industry association. He held several leadership positions in his career span of over 27 years with the CII & led several key functions at international, national & regional levels. One of the key function was the relationship with the World Economic Forum, which Ajay handled for over 20 years. This included participation at the Annual Meeting of the World Economic Forum in Davos & arranging its annual India Economic Summit.

Ajay also worked with Accenture India as a Partner (2008-2009) responsible for managing relationships with the Governments & Corporates before joining Jubilant Bhartia Group. He has been member of several high level Government delegations, committees and task forces of the World Economic Forum. He was the Vice Chair of South Asia Regional Strategy Group (RSG) of World Economic Forum & is closely involved with the Schwab Foundation for Social Entrepreneur of the Year- India Award. He is a regular at WEF annual meeting in Davos where he has been participating for over 35 years.

In 2008, Ajay Co-Founded Public Affairs Forum of India (www.pafi.in). Since its inception, PAFI has been actively promoting transparent Public Affairs, Advocacy & Policy making. It provides a networking platform and opportunities to exchange views and share experience between corporates and various stakeholders, through panel discussions, seminars, close-door dialogues and the Annual National Forum which Ajay chairs. PAFI’s objective is to redefine the paradigm of engagement for businesses with external stakeholders, from Government to Media to Civil Society and Academia. PAFI is dedicated to raise and maintain standards in Public Affairs, Public Policy & Advocacy and to enable the industry to attain recognition and credibility.

Ajay is also an Adjunct Professor at The Takshashila Institution, Bengaluru.

Ajay is a graduate in Commerce from Shriram College of Commerce & a Degree in Law from University of Delhi & currently lives in Delhi NCR, India. Ajay is married to Renu, a Corporate Lawyer & a Social Worker. Their daughter, Dr Surbhi is a medical Psychiatrist & son, Dr Ankur is a dentist both practising in the US.

Deepshikha Dharmaraj

Managing Committee Member, PAFI and
Chief Executive Officer, Genesis BCW Member,
BCW India Board

With over 28 years of rich and diverse experience in public relations and communications, Deepshikha Dharmaraj is one of the most respected leaders in the industry in India.

As the Chief Executive Officer of Genesis BCW, she oversees the organization and implements its growth strategy.

She is also a member of the BCW India Board, which manages the growth strategy of BCW India Group.

Deepshikha provides strategic counsel to the firm’s marquee clients and guides and works closely with client leaders to formulate integrated communications strategies for clients across sectors.

A firm believer in conceptualizing measurable and impactful campaigns, she champions creativity and measurement across the organization and the industry.

Anil Padmanabhan

Journalist who tweets
@capitalcalculus

Anil Padmanabhan has been a journalist for the last 35 years. He has worked at various media outlets including Mint, India Today, Business Standard and the Press Trust of India.

At present he is a columnist for the Economic Times, Khaleej Times and Substack. Anil tweets at @capitalcalculus.

Dr Ram Sevak Sharma

Chief Executive Officer
National Health Authority
Ministry of Health & Family Welfare
Government of India

He is an IAS officer of 1978 batch, with a distinguished career in the Government of India and State Governments, leading reforms and leveraging IT to simplify administrative processes.

In the process, he has contributed to shaping India's Policies in Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs). He combines planning and execution skills to ensure that policies work at the ground.

Has been involved in policies related to financing of big infrastructure projects in Railways, Ports, Airports and Highways.

Dr. Sharma is presently serving as the Chief Executive Officer of the National Health Authority responsible for managing the Ayushman Bharat Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana (AB PM-JAY) and the National Digital Health Mission. Also, he serves as the Chairperson of the Empowered Group on Vaccine Administration for COVID-19.

Previously, Dr Sharma headed the TRAI from August 2015 to September 2020, in which period he brought consumer focus to reaching the telecom and broadcasting services to all pockets of the country. And where the regulatory action may have been insufficient, he advocated policy changes to the government.

He provided thought leadership through initiatives, for example, in adopting net neutrality principles in India, use of crowdsourced data to measure service quality, and leveraging blockchain to achieve regulatory outcomes.

He pushed for development of indigenous technologies, keeping the country's needs in mind, e.g. to establish a grid of Wi-Fi hotspots or to make interoperable set-top boxes for television broadcast.

He represented India at various international fora and contributed to the policy space in communication technologies and broadcasting. Before joining the TRAI, Dr Sharma worked as Secretary, Department of Electronics and Information Technology, Government of India, where he spearheaded the Digital India program to develop India into a digitally empowered society and a knowledge economy.

He brought in policies related to open source, open standards, and open APIs in all government projects and shaped eGovernance space by converting silo applications in various sectors to modern, multi-tenanted enterprise systems.

Dr. Sharma supported the development and adoption of several digital products in governance and citizen services, such as eKYC, Digital Locker, eSign, Online Reservation System (ORS) in the hospitals, Digital Attendance, Jeevan Pramaan (a system for issuing Digital Life Certificate for the pensioners) and the Digital Consent Artefact. Importantly, he crafted policies for digital payments that led to the creation of the phenomenally successful UPI payment system in India.

Before joining the Government of India as Secretary, Dr Sharma worked for one year in 2013-14 as Chief Secretary in the Government of Bihar and Jharkhand, where he provided leadership to the entire administrative system of the State. He dealt with law and order, administration of the criminal justice system, revenue system and all other aspects of the work, for which a State Government is responsible under the Constitution. While there, he modernized governance and public service delivery systems using technology in several areas, such as land and property registration systems, municipal governance, Public Distribution System (PDS) and taxation systems.

Dr. Sharma is best known for the role he played as Director General & Mission Director of the Unique Identification Authority of India in the years 2009 – 2013.

Working closely with Mr Nandan Nilekani in overall design and implementation of Aadhaar, he brought to fruition Government of India’s ambitious project to provide a unique identity to all its residents. Today it is the world’s largest identity system, capable of biometrically authenticating every individual resident in the country.

He conceptualized (and later implemented) several services that leveraged the authentication infrastructure for better governance and for bringing in cost-effectiveness in both government and private enterprise.

In his other assignments, he has worked as District Magistrate in several districts in Bihar, Director of Treasuries, Secretary in different departments in the State and as Joint Secretary in the Ministry of Finance, Govt. of India.

In September 2020 Rupa Publications brought out his book The Making of Aadhaar: World's Largest Identity Platform (ISBN-13: 978-9390356126), which has been very well received.

Dr Sharma holds a PhD from Indian Institute of Technology, New Delhi; Master’s in Computer Sciences from the University of California, USA; and Master’s in Mathematics from the Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur.

Dr Randeep Guleria

Director
AIIMS

Dr. Randeep Guleria is Professor and Head, Department of Pulmonary Medicine and Sleep Disorders at All India Institute of Medical Sciences, New Delhi, where he has been working since the last 23 years.

Dr. Guleria is the first Indian to get a Doctorate of Medicine (DM) in Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine.

He joined AIIMS in 1992 as Assistant Professor in the Department of Medicine and in the subsequent years he has been promoted to the post of Associate Professor, Additional Professor and Professor.

He has done pioneering work in respiratory medicine. The Department of Pulmonary Medicine & Sleep Disorders has been created under his dynamic leadership in 2011 and has been ranked as the best department in Pulmonary Medicine in 2014, 2015 and 2016 by the NIELSEN survey published in WEEK.

He was instrumental in starting DM course in the discipline of Pulmonary, Critical Care & Sleep Medicine was started at AIIMS in 2011.

Dr. Guleria was conferred with the prestigious “Padma Shri” Award in 2015 by the President of India and recently with “Dr. B.C. Roy Award in the category Eminent Medical Person” for the year 2014. In addition to these, he has several awards and honours to his credit, notably, Himachal Gaurav Award in 2011, Zee TV and LIC “Swasth Bharat Award” in 2010, “Lung India Award” for the best original article in Lung India by the Indian Chest Society in 2014, Dr. Reddy’s Chest Oration by the National College of Chest Physicians (India) 2013, Association of Physicians EMerck award for research in Chest Diseases in 2008, Raj Nanda and Royal College of Physicians Joint fellowship in Pulmonary Diseases in 2007-08, Dr. Mahinder Narain Oration in 2005, Indian Chest Society, Dr CV Ramakrishnan Oration award for his outstanding contribution in Respiratory Diseases in 2011 by the Academy of Respiratory Medicine, Dr P S Shankar Oration in 2011, Humanity (India) Oration at 6th UKAPICON 2015 by the Association of Physicians of India and the CRS Oration award 2015 at TAPPCON 2015 by the Coimbatore Respiratory Society.

He has been invited as an expert in several National and International forums including the Center for Disease control (CDC), USA to their influenza division study tour, Advisor to WHO, Scientific Advisory Group of Experts (SAGE), Geneva, on “Influenza Vaccination and Immunization” from 2010 to 2013. He has been a consultant to International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), Vienna, on Radiation Protection in Medicine since 2007. He has been invited by the European Commission and the IAEA to their International Workshop in Brussels in 2009. He has been invited by the Government of Germany, WHO and IAEA to attend their International Conference on Radiation Protection in Medicine: “Setting the stage for the next decade” in 2012. He has also worked at the prestigious Royal Brompton Hospital, London as a Clinical Research Fellow.

He has been Personal Physician to the Prime Minister of India Shri Atal Bihari Vajpayee from 1998 to 2004 and has since continued to be his Personal Physician. He has been asked by the Government of India to see various national and international dignitaries including Mr. Koirala, the then Prime Minister of Nepal.

He has done pioneering work on respiratory muscle functions, lung cancer, asthma and COPD and has more than 400 publications in International and National journals and 49 chapters in various National and International books. He has delivered more than 300 lectures in International and National conferences. He has been invited by the American College of Chest Physicians as a faculty to their Annual International Conference in Chicago 2014. He has been invited by the National Associations in Sri Lanka and Nepal to deliver talks in their conferences.

He is a member of many key committees in the Government of India including the Joint Monitoring Committee to monitor outbreaks of new diseases including Pandemics, bird flu, Ebola etc. to formulate National policy to control antibiotic resistance in India, member of Program Advisory Committee on Health Science of the Department of Science and Technology, member Project Review Committee of the Indian Council of Medical Research, member of the project advisory committee of the National Institute of Virology and a member of the Project Advisory Committee on Nutritional Profile of Assam, Manipur and Meghalaya of the ICMR. He has been an advisor to several organizations like UPSC and a member of the Selection Committee for the International Commonwealth fellowship. He is a fellow and member of several National and International bodies including National Academy of Medical Sciences, International Medical Science Academy, Indian Association of Sarcoidosis and other Granulomatous Disorders, Association of Physicians of India, National College of Chest Physicians of India, Indian Chest Society and AIDS Society of India. Dr. Guleria is on the editorial board of a number of journals including the Indian Journal of Chest Disease, Lung India, Journal of American Medical Association (India), Chest (India), etc.

Dr. Guleria has been an external examiner to various universities including Delhi University, PGI, Chandigarh, VP Chest Institute, KGMC, Lucknow, BHU Varanasi, Amrita Institute of Medical Sciences, Sher-e Kashmir Institute, Srinagar and Universities in Nepal.

He has been organizing secretary for Medicine CME program for the Department of Medicine, A.I.I.M.S. in 1995 and 1996. He has convened the International and National conference on HIV, AIDS and Tuberculosis: Past Present and Future in 2006. He has been the organizing chairman of PULMOCRIT AIIMS & American College of Chest Physicians workshops and updates in 2012, 2014, 2015 and 2016. He has been chairman to various committees at AIIMS including drug purchase committee and medical boards

He has given a large number of talks and participated in programs for AIR, Doordarshan, Lok Sabha TV, Zee TV, NDTV, Star News, India TV and Aaj Tak. He has also participated in interactive TV shows for youth regarding problems of smoking and how to quit smoking. He has been actively participating in various environmental causes and has been an expert at various environmental forums concerning air pollution. He regularly participates in environmental awareness programs and delivers talks on effect of air pollution to school and college students as part of awareness campaign and green school initiative on environment.

Dr. Guleria has been a dedicated teacher for undergraduate, postgraduate and DM fellows for the last 30 years. He has been actively involved in taking classes for undergraduate students in the area of respiratory medicine. He has supervised more than 30 students in MD (Medicine) and 06 students in DM in Pulmonary, Critical Care & Sleep Medicine. Inherence teaching for students he has organized PG meetings for MD and DNB students which is included bedside case discussions and topic discussion on weekend for students to upgrade their knowledge and skills in case presentation.

Shobana Kamineni

Executive Vice Chairperson
Apollo Hospitals

Shobana Kamineni is the Executive Vice Chairperson of Apollo Hospitals Enterprise Limited and a member of its founding family.

Apollo Hospitals is the pioneer of private healthcare in India and is Asia's foremost integrated healthcare conglomerate.

Championing Special Initiatives for over seven years, Shobana now steers the organization's emergence as a proponent of integrated digital first healthcare services in India through Apollo 24/7.

She heads Apollo Pharmacy, India's largest pharmacy chain with a pan-India network of over 4000+ stores, 30,000+ employees; it serves more than 6,00,000 customers a day. She was founder and chairperson of Apollo Munich Health Insurance, acknowledged as India's best specialized Health Insurance company for 9 years, consecutively and now merged with HDFC ERGO. In addition, Shobana is the Vice-Chairperson of the KEI Group, a diversified logistics, leisure & infrastructure business, that she founded with her husband.

As lead Director in Apollo’s research and innovation activities, and cognizant of the convergence between healthcare, pharmaceutical & biotech industries and the academia, Shobana championed the creation and Incubation of a Biobank – a catalogued library of Ethically consented, anonymised bio-samples. The Biobank was recognized as one of the top 10 ideas of the decade in Life Sciences by the Time Magazine.

An active member of the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII), Shobana’s appointment as its President in 2017- 18 created history, as she was the first ever woman to hold the position since its inception in 1895. Dedicated to ensuring that more women enter the workforce, she launched the Power of Parity Initiative.

Alongside, in keeping with her keen interest to participate in Public Health, Shobana accepted a Board and Audit committee position in FIND (Foundation for Innovative New Diagnostics), a Geneva based, international non-profit organization that enables the development and delivery of much-needed diagnostic tests for poverty-related diseases. Since its inception, FIND partnered in the delivery of 21 new diagnostic tools and has active collaborations with more than 200 partners.

Passionate about inculcating a culture of wellness, Shobana had championed the establishment of 'Billion Hearts Beating' - an NGO dedicated to educating fellow Indians about preventing heart disease and staying heart-healthy.

In 2018, she was invited by the Indian Ministry of Corporate Affairs to be member of the National Foundation for Corporate Governance (NGFC) Trust. In addition, since January 2020, Shobana is the Co-Chair of the World Economic Forum’s Health and Healthcare Industry Governors Community. Further, in her capacity as the Co-Chair of the WEF’s Closing the Skills Gap Taskforce in India, she has steered focused action on human capital development and in preparing India’s workforce for the Fourth Industrial Revolution and future of work.

Shobana has been a recipient of prestigious national awards for Entrepreneurship and Leadership. The Women Economic Forum conferred upon her the award of ‘Businesswomen of the Decade’ in recognition of her work in healthcare and empowerment of women. She was conferred an Honorary Doctorate Degree of Science by the prestigious Bryant University, USA, recognition of her life's work in healthcare & pharmaceuticals and her leadership role in business expansion in India.

Dr Manjiri Bakre

Founder & CEO
OncoStem Diagnostics

Manjiri Bakre, a gold medalist from R. Ruia College, University of Mumbai for B.Sc (Microbiology), has M.Sc in Microbiology/Biochemistry from M S University of Baroda.

She received Ph D in Cell Biology from the Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore in 1998 Post Ph D she has worked in the USA at Mt Sinai School of Medicine, NY and at Moores Cancer Center, University of California at San Diego, CA on very diverse cellular signal transduction areas such as perception of bitter taste and cancer biology.

In 2003, she moved to Genome Institute of Singapore and worked on human embryonic stem cells and cancer stem cells. Manjiri moved back to India in 2007 and led a group in cancer drug discovery at Avesthagen followed by multidisciplinary research on ‘point-of-care’ diagnostics at Philips Research in Bangalore and The Netherlands.

In 2011 she founded OncoStem Diagnostics Pvt Ltd in Bangalore. OncoStem is focused on developing innovative tests for avoiding over treatment of patients with chemotherapy drugs resulting in improved quality of life and huge savings. “CanAssist Breast” -flagship product for breast cancer patients is being sold in India and internationally for the last 5 years. CanAssist Breast is ISO 13485 and CE-IVD marked and has been used on more than 1600 breast cancer patients and resulting in savings of Rs 22 Cr + till date. The company is funded by Sequoia Capital and Artiman Ventures.

Dr Manjiri is a recipient of multiple awards like, Young Scientist award given by International Union of Biochemists and Molecular Biologists (IUBMB, 2006); Best Entrepreneur award - Global Women in STEM start-up (2017), Entrepreneur of the Year award from Indian Achiever’s Forum (2021). She has published in many peer-reviewed journals such as Nature Medicine, has patents, mentored students and given talks in prestigious international conferences in US, Canada, Australia, Spain, S Korea etc. She has extensive experience in multiple areas of biology as well as in technologies such as microfluidic assays, microarrays etc. In addition, her work published from Singapore has been given Best Paper Award- given to top 1% papers published annually by Journal of Biological Chemists. Dr Manjiri has also volunteered with iSpirt in 2020 for studies and rapid test development for Covid-19.

OncoStem has won key awards like NASSCOM-Best Innovation of the year, ET Health world- Health-tech innovator of the year in 2019-2020 and Aegis Graham Bell award (2021) given by Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology, Government of India; NITI Aayog, India.

Neelima Dwivedi

Managing Committee Member, PAFI and
Senior Director – Public Policy, Corporate
Communications & Market Access,
MSD Pharmaceuticals Pvt Ltd

Neelima is a senior professional with over 25 years of experience in Corporate affairs, Public Policy, CSR & Philanthropy.

She has a strong blend of global and local expertise having played an instrumental role in developing government affairs strategies, policy advocacy, reputation management and public private partnerships at PepsiCo, MSD, DuPont & Monsanto where she has served as part of the country leadership team.

Her last stint was at Microsoft, where she served as Group Head & Director, Government Affairs & Public Policy and was responsible for driving Policy & Regulatory Affairs for Microsoft India, across all businesses.

Having worked in the challenging environment across these diverse industries, she understands that proactive stakeholder’s engagement, cultivating relationships & Issue Management are the important prerequisite of commercial success. Neelima has driven public private partnership initiatives across several states in India. She has been part of several Govt’s Steering committees such as in Agriculture- 12th Five years plan on Agriculture Extension, & Public Private Partnerships, Doubling Farmer’s income of MOA. She also contributed to Food Processing Committee chaired by Secretary Ministry of Food Processing and led several working groups & Advocacy committees of Industry Associations. She also participated of the national COVID-19 response core committee of Telemedicine.

Neelima has had an earlier stint with MSD India between 2013-2016 as Senior Director, Corporate Affairs. During her earlier stint she also led MSD for Mothers in India which was a multimillion-dollar engagement & partnerships with public health organizations. She also led initiatives across ASEAN countries as a special assignment to support Women Health Business at MSD.

Neelima completed her master’s from Ranchi University.

Shivnath Thukral

Managing Committee Member,
PAFI and Public Policy Director
WhatsApp, India

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.

R Sukumar

Editor-In-Chief
The 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.

Ajay Prakash Sawhney

Secretary
Ministry of Electronics & Information Technology
Government of India

Shri Sawhney is a Mechanical Engineer and an IAS Officer of Andhra Pradesh cadre (1984 batch). He has handled various assignments in the State of Andhra Pradesh, covering land administration, law and order and quasi-judicial functions, rural development, health & family welfare, communication & information technology, e-governance and elections etc.

He played a lead role in the Total Literacy Campaign taken up in Nizamabad district in the early nineties. He has also catalysed the establishment of the International Institute of Information Technology in Hyderabad and its emergence as one of the premier institutions in computer science education and research in the country.

He has spent more than ten years in assignments relating to information technology and e-governance and has led the formulation of innovative policies and implementation of several major e-governance, communications and broadband projects. He has also worked as the Principal Secretary to Chief Minister of AP after the reorganization of the State of Andhra Pradesh.

He has also held important positions in the Govt. of India as Joint Secretary Training in the Department of Personnel and Training and as the President and CEO of the National eGovernance Division, which assists the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology in the implementation of the National e-Governance Plan.

Arvind Singh

Secretary
Ministry of Tourism
Government of India

Mr. Arvind Singh joined the Indian Administrative Service in 1988 after acquiring Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees in economics from St. Stephen’s College, Delhi and the Delhi School of Economics. His initial assignments were as Assistant Collector at Aurangabad and as Chief Executive Officer of Aurangabad and Nagpur Zilla Parishads. After a stint in the Chief Secretary’s office at Mumbai, he moved to Kolhapur as District Collector. Moving to the Centre in 2001, he worked in various ministries including Commerce and Shipping and as Private Secretary to the Minister of Agriculture.

Mr. Arvind Singh (IAS; MH:88) has been appointed as Secretary, Ministry of Tourism and has taken over the charge on 27th January, 2021. His previous assignment was as Chairman, Airport Authority of India, M/o Civil Aviation. He has also served as Additional Chief Secretary (Energy) in Government of Maharashtra, prior to that he was Chairman and Managing Director of Maharashtra State Power Generation Company Ltd. (MSPGCL) and the Maharashtra State Electricity Transmission Company Ltd. (MSETCL). He has also served at the Embassy of India, Tokyo as Minister (Economic & Commercial) between 2014-17.

Mr. Singh has attended mid-career training courses at the Graduate Institute, Geneva and Harvard University and is fluent in English, Hindi and Marathi.

Dammu Ravi

Secretary (Economic Relations)
Ministry of External Affairsbr
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:

(i) Standardizing India’s Exports,

(ii) Liberalizing India’s Agriculture Markets

(iii) Evolution of India’s Trade Negotiations

Mr. Dammu Ravi is married and has a daughter.

Rajesh Aggarwal

Secretary
Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship
Government of India

I did B.Tech. in Computer Science from IIT, Delhi (1983-87), before drifting to IAS (Indian Administrative Service) in 1989. In IIT, my B.Tech. Thesis was on Natural Language Understanding, and my main interests were Algorithms and Artificial Intelligence.

During Field postings (1991-1998) after joining IAS, did a few small IT projects for better transparency and better delivery of services. But advent of Internet in Government offices starting around Y2K changed things.

. During my stint at Election Commission of India, New Delhi (2003-2007), I developed lot of fuzzy matching techniques to dedupe the voter lists, worked with large databases (700 million voters and 500 million photographs) in more than a dozen Indian Languages, executed Photo Rolls project (now you see your photograph printed in the Voter List), and convinced Delimitation Commission to make new Assembly and Parliament boundaries using GIS Maps from Census of India.

Thereafter, from 2007-2009, I managed Internet Exchange of India, where we dramatically decreased Domestic Internet traffic packets going outside the country, and increased .IN domain names considerably, and introduced forward looking policies in both the fields.

Back to State Government in 2009, during my two week additional charge of Social Justice department, we could issue Government orders regarding scholarship money to kids going into their Bank Account directly. Thereafter, during a short stint as Secretary Accounts & Treasuries, my focus was on making treasuries cheque-less, going totally electronic on Receipts and Payment sides.

Thereafter, as IT Secretary of Maharashtra from June 2011 to January 2015, I deeply focussed on IT Fundamentals, and the name eGov 0.0 comes out of the philosophy that we should focus on fundamentals of Governance and IT rather than creating hype about eGovernance.

My tenure as CIO of the State saw Maharashtra rising to the top of eGovernance ecosystem in the country. It is now #1 in Aadhaar, number of CSCs, and electronic payments and receipts in the country, and very strong in eTendering, eOffice, use of Cloud, IPv6 etc. These eGov initiatives have bagged more than 300 National and International Awards.

I have written more than six dozen judgments as Adjudicating Officer under IT Act, which have got wide coverage in media. I have also been lucky to get Aadhaar innovations Award from Hon’ Prime Minister, get Indian Express IT Award, DataQuest Editor’s Choice for CIO, C-Change Digital Crusader Award by CIOL, and in 2014 I was chosen among Global 100 CIOs by Computerworld USA.

In January 2015, I moved back to Delhi in Government of India as Joint Secretary (Financial Services), and Mission Director of Flagship Initiative of Financial Inclusion (Prime Minister Jan Dhan Yojana). Then I worked as Joint Secretary (Tribal Affairs) in Government of India, where my visits to deepest and remote parts of the country showed me how sometimes Technology can empower people and sometimes dis-empower them. Thereafter I was Additional Secretary and Director General Training in Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship, holding additional charge of DG (Niesbud). Since January 2020, I am Additional Secretary and Financial Advisor for the Ministry of Petroleum & Natural Gas, and also for the Ministry of Corporate Affairs, Government of India.

T S Vishwanath

Past President & Founding Member, PAFI,
Principal Adviser, APJ-SLG Law Offices (ASL)
& Co-Founder RV-VeKommunicate

He focusses on all policy and regulatory issues and advices industry and governments on the impact of global economic and trade policies. He is also a contributor of research papers to think tanks and writes analytical pieces in newspapers.

Virat Bhatia

Vice President, PAFI and
Managing Director
Apple India

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). He chairs the FICCI National Committee on ICT and Mobile Manufacturing and serves on its National Executive Committee. In 2014, the UN Secretary General appointed him to the Multistakeholder Advisory Group of the UN Internet Governance Forum (UNIGF). In the past, he has held the position of Vice President of the Commission on ICT of the Paris-based International Chamber of Commerce (ICC), and that of 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.

Govind Mohan

Secretary
Ministry of Culture
Government of India

Govind Mohan an IAS Officer from Sikkim Batch 1989 , is presently Secretary Ministry of Culture , Government of India. He was additional Secretary, Department of home , Government of India as well .

Jyotiraditya M Scindia

Minister of Civil Aviation
Government of India

Shri Jyotiraditya M. Scindia is currently serving as the Union Minister of Civil Aviation, Government of India. He has also been a four-term Member of Parliament in the Lok Sabha (2002-04, 2004- 09, 2009-14 & 2014-19). He is a Member of Parliament in the Rajya Sabha from the state of Madhya Pradesh since 2020.

A public servant, Shri Scindia began his political journey in 2002. In 2008, he served as the Minister of State for Communications and IT; in 2009 as the Minister of State for Commerce and Industry, and then, in 2012 as Minister of State with Independent Charge for Power.

Shri Scindia’s tenure as Minister of State for Communications 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. As Minister of State for 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 with linkages for power plants, and resolved last-mile distribution issues in collaboration with State Governments.

Shri Scindia has been a member of Parliamentary Committees on Education, Women, Children, Youth and Sports; Defence; Finance; Home and External Affairs.

Shri 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, Shri Scindia is passionate about education. He is currently serving as the President of the Board of Governors at the Scindia School, Madhav Institute of Technology & Sciences, Samrat Ashok Technological Institute and Patron of the Daly College. With an avid interest in cricket, he has also served as the Chairman of the Finance Committee of the BCCI, and as the Former President and Chairman of the Madhya Pradesh Cricket Association.

Shereen Bhan

Managing Editor CNBC TV18

Shereen Bhan is the Managing Editor of CNBC-TV18 with over 20 years of experience in the field of Television Broadcast, tracking corporate, policy news and events that defined the business landscape in India. For more than a decade now, Shereen has been not only producing and anchoring flagship, award winning shows like 'India Business Hour' and ‘Young Turks', she has also been hands-on in guiding and molding young business journalists.

She has been responsible for breaking a range of news stories that have redefined the Indian economic landscape in recent times and has also interviewed some of the biggest names in business and politics, both domestic and global. Shereen is also the Anchor & Editor of the award winning show 'Young Turks', one of India's longest running shows on entrepreneurship – a section that over the last 18 years has successfully built a niche category in business news programming.

Shereen is also the Author of Young Turks, a book published by Random House India. Shereen has interviewed some of the biggest names in Business from legendary investor Warren Buffet to Bill Gates, Satya Nadella, Richard Branson, Sheryl Sandberg, Indra Nooyi to name just a few. She has also spent several years tracking the political- economy and has interviewed several Finance Ministers and other Cabinet Ministers over the years.

Over the course of her 21-year tryst with business journalism, Shereen has been the recipient of the 'Best Business Talk Show' award at the News Television awards for two years consecutively. She also won the 'FICCI Woman of the Year' award for her contribution to the Media in 2005, and was named a 'Young Global Leader' by the World Economic Forum. She also won the ‘Best Business Anchor Award’ at the ‘News Television Awards’ in 2013 and the ‘Best English News Anchor Award’ in 2018.

Shereen was named in IMPACT's '50 Most Influential Women In Indian Media, Marketing & Advertising List, for 2018, 2019 and yet again for 2020. She has won the News Television Editor-in-Chief of the year in the English category and the Best Anchor, English in the prestigious ENBA 2019 Awards.

More recently, continuing her winning streak at ENBA 2020 Awards, Shereen won the Managing Editor of the Year – English and Best Anchor – English awards.

Ajay Khanna

Forum Chairman & Co-Founder, PAFI and
Group Global Chief Strategic & Public Affairs
Jubilant Bhartia Group

The Jubilant Bhartia Group, has presence in diverse sectors like Pharmaceuticals, Life Science Ingredients and Drug Discovery Services, Performance Polymers, Food Service (QSR), Food, Auto, Consulting in Aerospace and Oilfield Services. Headquarter in India, the Group has presence in the United States, Canada, Europe, China, Singapore, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh. Jubilant Pharmova Limited, Jubilant Ingrevia Limited and Jubilant FoodWorks Limited are the flagship companies of the Group. Ajay joined the Group in 2009.

Ajay was founding Chief Executive Officer (2002-2006) of India Brand Equity Foundation (www.ibef.org). This was a unique Public Private Partnership initiative to Promote, Project & Position India’s growth story globally. IBEF, under Ajay’s leadership led “India Everywhere” campaign at the Annual Meeting of the World Economic Forum in Davos in 2006. A number of high profile global initiatives were taken during Ajay's four-year stint as the CEO of IBEF, a joint initiative of Ministry of Commerce, Government of India & Confederation of Indian Industry (CII).

Ajay was Deputy Director General (1999-2008) with the Confederation of Indian Industry (www.cii.in), an apex industry association. He held several leadership positions in his career span of over 27 years with the CII & led several key functions at international, national & regional levels. One of the key function was the relationship with the World Economic Forum, which Ajay handled for over 20 years. This included participation at the Annual Meeting of the World Economic Forum in Davos & arranging its annual India Economic Summit.

Ajay also worked with Accenture India as a Partner (2008-2009) responsible for managing relationships with the Governments & Corporates before joining Jubilant Bhartia Group. He has been member of several high level Government delegations, committees and task forces of the World Economic Forum. He was the Vice Chair of South Asia Regional Strategy Group (RSG) of World Economic Forum & is closely involved with the Schwab Foundation for Social Entrepreneur of the Year- India Award. He is a regular at WEF annual meeting in Davos where he has been participating for over 35 years.

In 2008, Ajay Co-Founded Public Affairs Forum of India (www.pafi.in). Since its inception, PAFI has been actively promoting transparent Public Affairs, Advocacy & Policy making. It provides a networking platform and opportunities to exchange views and share experience between corporates and various stakeholders, through panel discussions, seminars, close-door dialogues and the Annual National Forum which Ajay chairs. PAFI’s objective is to redefine the paradigm of engagement for businesses with external stakeholders, from Government to Media to Civil Society and Academia. PAFI is dedicated to raise and maintain standards in Public Affairs, Public Policy & Advocacy and to enable the industry to attain recognition and credibility.

Ajay is also an Adjunct Professor at The Takshashila Institution, Bengaluru.

Ajay is a graduate in Commerce from Shriram College of Commerce & a Degree in Law from University of Delhi & currently lives in Delhi NCR, India. Ajay is married to Renu, a Corporate Lawyer & a Social Worker. Their daughter, Dr Surbhi is a medical Psychiatrist & son, Dr Ankur is a dentist both practising in the US.

Subho Ray

President, PAFI and President, Internet and Mobile Association of India (IAMAI)

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

Vice President, PAFI and
Managing Director
Apple India

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). He chairs the FICCI National Committee on ICT and Mobile Manufacturing and serves on its National Executive Committee. In 2014, the UN Secretary General appointed him to the Multistakeholder Advisory Group of the UN Internet Governance Forum (UNIGF). In the past, he has held the position of Vice President of the Commission on ICT of the Paris-based International Chamber of Commerce (ICC), and that of 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.

Harish Krishnan

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

As Managing Director & Chief Policy Officer of 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 the Vice President of MAIT, a member of the Confederation of Information Technology, Chairman, American Chamber of Commerce in India National committee on CSR) and FICCI’s National Committee on Telecom.

With over 25 years of experience in Public Affairs, Harish worked in IBM & Confederation of Indian Industry before joining Cisco in 2007.

Javed Sayed

Associate Executive Editor
The Economic Times

Javed Sayed is the associate executive editor of The Economic Times, India’s largest business newspaper. He heads the national news operations of ET and is also responsible for print digital integration.

He has been the Resident Editor (North) of the newspaper and the National Corporate Editor of The Economic Times and ET NOW, the sister channel of the newspaper. He was part of the founding team of ET NOW. A journalist with around 25 years of experience, Javed tracks corporate and macro trends and is keenly interested in the intersection of policy and business.

Pramod Bhasin

Chairman, ICRIER & Clix Capital and Founder
Genpact Ltd

Pramod is the Chairperson of Clix Capital, as well as ICRIER, an economic research think tank. He was also the Founder and CEO of Genpact ltd, and the Chairman and Co-Founder of the Skills Academy.

Earlier he was the President & CEO of GE Capital in India from 1994 to 2005, and GE Capital Asia from 1998 to 2001. He was with the General Electric Corporation in UK and the USA and Asia for over 25 years.

Pramod is considered the Pioneer of the Business Process Industry in India. He founded Genpact in 1996 and led it till 2011.

Genpact is a NYSE publicly listed Global business that currently spans 26+ countries and employs over 90,000 people. Under his leadership, Genpact also pioneered this industry in Easter Europe, China and Latin America. Genpact currently has a market capitalization of approximately $8 billion and revenues of over $3 billion.

Pramod is currently the Chairman of Clix Capital, a Financial Services Business in India focused on providing digital platforms and financial services to consumers and small businesses. He founded the Skills Academy, that focuses on providing vocational skills for the under privileged. The Skills Academy operated in over 15 states, principally in smaller towns and villages to provide vocational skills training in a wide variety of skills and occupations. He served as the Chairperson of CII’s Skills Committee for many years, and was a member of CII’s National Council.

He is the co-founder of Asha Impact, an organisation focused on Social Impact Investments and Advocacy in key areas such as Education, Waste Management, Healthcare and Financial Inclusions. He is a Strategic Advisor to Kedaara, a Private Equity firm.

He sits on the Governing Board of Help Age India, Vishwas, an NGO for handicapped children He currently serves on the Board of DLF Ltd., and in the past, has served on the Board of Bank of India and NDTV and SRF Ltd. He has been the Chairman of Nasscom and was voted IT Man of the Year by DataQuest, and Manger of the Year by EY & Co. He was also the President of TIE, NCR.

Pramod is a Chartered Accountant ( England and Wales) and an alumni of Shri Ram College of commerce.

Manish Sabharwal

Vice Chairman
Teamlease Services

Manish is Executive Vice-Chairman of Teamlease Services, one of India’s leading staffing and human capital firm. Teamlease is also implementing India’s first vocational university and national PPP apprenticeship program. The company has hired 1.8 million employees over the last 15 years.

In 1996 he co-founded India Life, an HR outsourcing company that was acquired in 2002 by a listed US company called Hewitt Associates. Consequently, he was CEO of Hewitt Outsourcing (Asia) based in Singapore for two years.

Manish is a member of the National Skill Mission, Central Advisory Board of Education and has served on various policy committees for education, employment and employability. He served as an Independent Director on the Board of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI). He is a Member of Advisory Board of the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) and a governing board member of National Council of Applied Economic Research (NCAER). He is also Managing Trustee of the New India Foundation that offers fellowships for writing books about post-1947 India and is a columnist for Indian Express. He got his MBA from The Wharton School and is an alumnus of Shriram College, Delhi and Mayo College, Ajmer.

Srinivas Katikithala

Additional Secretary,
Government of India,
Director
Lal Bahadur Shastri National Academy of Administration

Srinivas Katikithala is a senior Indian Administrative Service officer from the 1989 batch. He currently serves as the Director of the Lal Bahadur Shastri National Academy of Administration; the premier capacity building and policy think tank, in the rank of Secretary to the Government of India.

He last served as Establishment Officer & Secretary to the Appointments Committee of the Union Cabinet, Government of India till September 2021. In this capacity he helped structure the path breaking Mission Karmayogi, Government of India’s Flagship Civil Service Capacity Building Program.

In his career spanning 32 years at the Federal & State levels he provided leadership in program implementation, in public policy, in new legislation & legislative reform and in building public infrastructure. He has a deep and abiding interest in public policy formulation and in devising methods for its effective implementation.

In his cadre state of Gujarat, he is credited with innumerable public policy reforms in the areas of Revenue Administration, Personnel Administration, Urban Affairs and in the building as well as management of Public Infrastructure. In the Government of India, he worked in the area of State Capacity Building in its varied dimensions.

He implemented several innovative projects including Statue of Unity-the World’s Tallest Statue, GIFT City Gujarat, and the award-winning Gujarat Earthquake Rehabilitation Program (GERRP) that rebuilt 14 earthquake struck cities during the years 2004-07.

A trained lawyer himself with abiding interest in laws and legislation, he has piloted a score of path-breaking legislation at the State and Federal levels. He has to his credit the significant overhaul of the Land Revenue Code of Gujarat (done after 110 years), the Land Acquisition Act amendment, the Gujarat Lok Ayukta Act and many others. At the federal level, he assisted the overhaul to the Prevention of Corruption Act etc.

He has authored a book "History of Land Revenue Administration in Gujarat" (ISBN 978-93-5268-424-3), and several published papers.

Deepak Maheshwari

Chief Executive Officer,
PAFI

Deepak joined as the Chief Executive Officer of PAFI after leading policy function for over two decades in Symantec, MasterCard, Microsoft and Sify with responsibilities spanning India, ASEAN and China.

Having a keen interest in the interplay of public affairs, innovation and socio-economic development, Deepak is a thought leader and an oft-invited speaker, his views have been widely published and cited.

A strong believer in the transformative power of public private partnerships, he co-founded National Internet Exchange of India, NIXI and the ITU-APT Foundation of India.

He has served as Global Chair of the IEEE Internet Initiative, Secretary of the ISP Association of India and as a board member of the IIM Ahmedabad-Idea Telecom Centre of Excellence.

He is also a Senior Fellow at Centre For The Digital Future, CDF and a Senior Visiting Fellow at Indian Council for Research on International Economic Relations, ICRIER. A graduate in engineering from Indian Institute of Technology, he also has a degree in law.

Ishteyaque Amjad

Past President and Managing Committee Member PAFI and
Group Global Head –Corporate Affairs
Godrej Group

Ishteyaque Amjad, Immediate Past President PAFI, is the Group Global Head of Corporate Affairs at Godrej Group.

He spearheads the practice, and his charter includes government relations, policy advocacy and external affairs. With a career spanning over two decades, Ishteyaque has had the opportunity to work across a diverse set of industries through stints both in India and overseas in organizations such as Coca-Cola, Cargill, HCL and Essar Group. He started his career at the Indian Army.

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, he is a member of CII’s National Committee on Real Estate and FICCI’s National FMCG Committee. He has served on the Board of Management of TERI School of Advanced Studies and has been a jury at the Cannes Lions the Festival of Creativity. He completed his postgraduation from SIMS Pune, graduated with a bachelor’s degree in Economics from AMU, Aligarh 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.

Vikram Chandra

Founder
Editorji Technologies

Vikram is the founder of Editorji Technologies - a start-up that seeks to transform video news through innovation in user experience, using artificial intelligence. Editorji provides personalised video newscasts on mobile phones and can be downloaded at editorji.com/download.

In his earlier avatar, Vikram was one of India's best -known TV news anchor, presenting shows like "The Big Fight", 9 o’clock News and Gadget Guru together with programmes for social transformation such as the Cleanathon, Greenathon and “Save our Tigers”. He has helped pioneer innovations such as news on mobile phones, the live streaming of video on the internet and the first major news app in India.

Vikram has been named ‘Global Leader for Tomorrow’ by the World Economic Forum in Davos; and has won the Indian Television Academy Award for "Best Anchor for a Talk Show", the Hero Honda Award for Best Anchorperson and the Teacher's Achievement Award for Communication, along with featuring in the top 20 on the Impact list of the Digital Power 100. He was educated at Oxford University and St Stephen’s College, before attending the Mass Media Institute at Stanford University.

Chandra Mohan Patowary

Cabinet Minister for Commerce, Industry & Public Enterprise,
Transport,
Skill Development & Entrepreneurship,
Act East Policy Affairs and Welfare of Minorities,
Government of Assam

Shri Chandra Mohan Patowary is the Cabinet Minister for Commerce, Industry & Public Enterprise, Transport, Skill Development & Entrepreneurship, Act East Policy Affairs and Welfare of Minorities in the present Assam Government which assumed charge on 10th May, 2021 under the dynamic leadership of Shri Himanta Biswa Sarma, Hon’ble Chief Minister of Assam. Shri Patowary the Cabinet Minister for Commerce & Industry, Transport, Skill Development & Entrepreneurship, Act East Policy Affairs and Parliamentary Affairs during the period of 2016-2021. He was also the Cabinet Minister for Health & Family Welfare of Assam during the period of 1985-1990 and Cabinet Minister for Agriculture from 1996-2001.

Under the able & visionary leadership of Shri Chandra Mohan Patowary, a sea change has been brought out in the industrial scenario of Assam from 2016 onwards. A total number of 2,317 new industrial units with investment worth Rs. 65,000 crores have been set up in the state of Assam. These new units have generated both direct & indirect employment opportunities for around 90,000 persons.

Assam Government passed the Ease of Doing Business Bill (EODB) in the very first Assembly Session of the government which took charge in 2016. The Industries & Commerce Department under the leadership of Shri Chandra Mohan Patowary conceptualized & organized the Advantage Assam – Global Business Summit in the month of February, 2018 which was inaugurated by Hon’ble Prime Minister of India Shri Narendra Modi. The business summit was attended by a large number of international investors, NRIs, renowned Indian business houses. During the summit, MoUs of value of Rs. 79,000 crores were inked and investments worth around Rs.65,000 crores are already in various stages of investment in the State.

The Act East Policy Affairs Department under the leadership of Shri Chandra Mohan Patowary has played a very pivotal role in connecting Assam to the ASEAN and South East Asia. Connectivity to the ports of Bangladesh through the India-Bangladesh Protocol River Routes has opened up cargo movement from Assam directly to the international markets.

Assam Government has set up the Assam Skill Development Mission (ASDM) so that a talented, skilled and motivated workforce is readily available for the Industrial & Service Sector.

Shri Patowary conceptualized and established a state-of-the-art startup incubator named as “The Nest” with IIM Calcutta Innovation Park (IIMCIP) as operating partner. Assam Startup - the Nest has already incubated 75 Startups with turnover of around 11 crores and has generated 1690 direct and over 40,000 indirect employment. The track record of Assam Startup “The Nest” in nurturing and incubating successful Startups is the best among Startup Incubators in India.

For the first time in Assam, a dedicated land bank for industrial units has been set up for fast track allocation of industrial plots to investors. A new investor friendly ‘Industrial and Investment Policy of Assam, 2019’ has been implemented with a mission of projecting Assam as a preferred destination for investment.

With a vision for bringing in a tremendous chance in the field of Skill Development, Shri Patowary has initiated the process to set up a Skill University at a projected cost of Rs.950 Crores with financial support from Asian Development Bank. In order to combat the unemployment scenario of the state and to offer the youth in the state an organized platform of skill development for sustenance of livelihood, the Assam Government has proposed to set up a Skill University. The aim of setting up the University is to offer candidates practical, hands-on training in manufacturing & services sector and also to set up industry/employer linkage as a boost to the skills development eco-system in the state. The objective of this project is to develop the Skill University into a model Technical and Vocational and Educational Training(TVET) institution in the Northeast region of India that offers affordable and high-quality skills training for the masses especially for the youth unable to acquire higher education in other way.

Soon after assuming office for the 2nd term, Shri Patowary took the initiative in bringing out a trailblazing Policy namely “The Assam Ethanol Production Promotion Policy,2021” to attract investments in Ethanol Plants in Assam with a host of incentives & tax breaks for production of Ethanol as a bio-fuel for blending in Automotive Fuel utilizing locally available feedstock like Rice Straw, surplus Rice, Sugarcane and other feedstocks as applicable under the National Bio-Fuel Policy of Government of India. This policy aims to achieve the following objectives for the overall growth and development of green-field new 100% ethanol manufacturing industrial units in the State with a goal of providing remunerative returns to investors, farmers and all other stakeholders.

Also Shri Patowary took the initiative in bring out another futuristic Policy namely “The Electric Vehicle Policy of Assam, 2021” to kickstart the changeover to Electric Vehicles in Assam with a wide range of goals. These include better air quality, reduced noise pollution, enhanced energy security and in combination with a low carbon power generation mix - reduced greenhouse emissions. The vision of the EV Policy is a dedicated strategy to address price of EVs, public charging infrastructure and investment in EV manufacturing and charging infrastructure required to promote adoption of EVs in the state. Government of Assam plans to ensure a robust infrastructure for electric vehicles that includes adequate power availability, network of charging points and favorable power tariff.

Dushyant Chautala

Deputy Chief Minister
Government of Haryana

Dushyant Chautala is a deputy chief minister of Haryana. Also, he served in as the member of Parliament from Hisar Lok Sabha Constituency representing Indian National Lok Dal. He defeated Kuldeep Bishnoi by 31,847 votes in elections. He is the youngest MP in the history of Indian Parliament in 2014. Dushyant is one of the prominent Jat leaders in the state. He is a founder of Jannayak Janata Party (JJP), which he launched after differences in the family led to his expulsion from Indian National Lok Dal.

He thrives for promotion of Education and Sports, providing maximum job opportunities for youth of our country and Preservation and promotion of culture and heritage of Haryana.

His Political Timeline is as follows

2019 - In Haryana Legislative Assembly election, Dushyant Chautala defeated BJP candidate Premlata with the margin of 47,452 votes. His party JJP also made a decent debut with victory on 10 Assembly seats.

2019 - On December 27, Dushyant Chautala took oath as a deputy chief minister of Haryana state.

2018 - After the differences in the family and his expulsion from Indian National Lok Dal, Dushyant launched the new party Jannayak Janata Party (JJP) on 9 December 2018.

2016 - Member, Committee on Estimates

2016 - Member, Standing Committee on Commerce

2015 - Member, Committee on Papers Laid on the Table (Lok Sabha)

2015 - Co-convenor, Parliamentarians ‘Group for Children & WASH Form

2015 - Member, Consultative Committee, Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship

2014 - Dushyant Chautala was elected to the 16th Lok Sabha elections after defeating Kuldeep Bishnoi of HJC (BL) party from Hisar constituency. 2014 Leader, Indian National Lok Dal (INLD) Party in Lok Sabha

2014 - Member, Standing Committee on Urban Development

Rajyavardhan Singh Dattigaon

Cabinet Minister
Industry Policy and Investment Promotion
Government of Madhya Pradesh

Rajvardhan Singh Dattigaon is an Indian politician and a member of Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP). He is currently serving as Industry Policy and Investment Promotion minister in the Madhya Pradesh government. He belongs to the royal family of Dattigaon Jagir and is a titular head of the princely estate. He is popularly known as the Maharaja or Rao Saheb of Dattigaon.

Mr. Dattigaon completed schooling from Mayo College, Ajmer and then went to pursue BA from St. Stephens College, Delhi. He did his post-graduation from Indian Institute of Mass Communication in Advertising and Public Relations.

. He started his career with Lufthansa as marketing manager but left the job to contest his first election as an independent candidate. He was first elected to Madhya Pradesh Assembly in 2003, 2008 and in 2018. He took oath as a Cabinet Minister on July 14, 2020 and was assigned the responsibility of Industry Policy and Investment Promotion.

Dibya Shankar Mishra

Minister of State
Energy, Industries, MSME
Government of Odisha

Dibya Shankar Mishra is known as captain Dibya Shankar Mishra from Kalahandi Odisha now ministers of Energy; Industries; Micro, Small & Medium Enterprises. Government of Odisha.

Dibya Shankar Mishra was born in Kalahandi Odisha in the year 1969 his father name Late. Bibhuti Bhushan Mishra is a farmer his father doing farming for family living.

Dibya Shankar Mishra has been elected from Junagarh Kalahandi Odisha.

Dr K C Ravi

Past President & Co-Founder, PAFI and Chief Sustainability Officer
Syngenta India Limited

Prior to joining Syngenta, Ravi was heading the Government and Public Policy function for the Cummins Group of companies, the world’s leading manufacturer of engines and related technologies. Ravi has also worked in Monsanto as the head of Government and Public Affairs and in DHL Express as the Head of Customs and Regulatory Affairs. In these roles his principal responsibility was to influence policy change to provide a conducive environment for the growth of the industry. He was also advising DHL network in the South-East Asian Region. Ravi is also the Chairman of Crop Life India (CLI)

Ravi has been a regular contributor and has written numerous articles in all leading financial dailies like Business Standard, Economic Times, Times of India and Financial Express. He has also contributed a paper to the World Bank Report on “Harmonization of Customs Procedures”. Besides he has written policy papers on trade and tax reforms as well as economic policy issues for the CII for submission to the government.