Abishek Choutagunta is currently pursuing dual PhD degrees in Law and Economics at the University of Hamburg. He is an Emergent Ventures India Fellow at the Mercatus Center. His research interests revolve around political economy and the economic analysis of constitutional frameworks. His specific focus lies in studying federalism, public finance, and local governance in India. He holds a Master’s in economics from Madras School of Economics, as well as a Master’s in Law and Economics from Erasmus University of Rotterdam, University of Hamburg, and Warsaw School of Economics via the European Master’s in Law and Economics Program.

csabishek@gmail.com

Ajay Shah studied at Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay and University of Southern California, Los Angeles. He has held positions at Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy (CMIE), Indira Gandhi Institute for Development Research (IGIDR), Department of Economic Affairs at the Ministry of Finance, and National Institute for Public Finance and Policy (NIPFP). He is now part of XKDR Forum and the Jindal Global University. His research is at the intersection of economics, law, and public administration. His second book, co-authored with Vijay Kelkar, In Service of the Republic: The Art and Science of Economic Policy, was featured in Bloomberg’s “2020 Best Books on Business and Leadership.” His work can be accessed at mayin.org.

ajayshah@mayin.org

Alex Tabarrok holds the Bartley J. Madden Chair in Economics at the Mercatus Center and is a professor of economics at George Mason University and research fellow with the Mercatus Center. Alex’s research interests include empirical law and economics (crime, tort reform, bounty hunters, judicial electoral systems etc.), voting theory and alternative political institutions, health economics and more. Alex is the coauthor, with colleague Tyler Cowen, of the popular economics blog Marginal Revolution and cofounder of the online educational platform Marginal Revolution University.

atabarro@gmu.edu

Amit Chandra is Chief Executive Officer at the Centre for Civil Society. He is a passionate promoter of liberal values with an interest in improving governance in the area of school education and livelihoods. He is a social development professional with experience in research, advocacy, and outreach. His work has been widely quoted in media and academic publications. He mentors/advises several for-profit and not-for-profit organizations, and is also a member of various committees set up by different state governments. Previously, he worked with The Asia Foundation in Kabul and the Central Square Foundation in Delhi. He played a crucial role in setting up and scaling India's largest low-cost private schools network, National Independent Schools Alliance.

amit@ccs.in

Amit Varma is a writer and podcaster. He writes the blog “India Uncut” and hosts the weekly podcast, “The Seen and the Unseen”. He started his career in advertising, moved on to television, and has been a journalist since 2001. He has written for the Wall Street Journal, the Guardian, the Observer and almost every Indian publication. He is a columnist for the Times of India, Bloomberg Quint and Cricket Next. He re-launched the online magazine Pragati in 2017, as chief editor. He is a two-time winner of the Bastiat Prize for Journalism and in 2009, Business Week named him one of the 50 Most Powerful People in India. He was a serious poker player for a few years and wrote a column on poker called “Range Rover” for the Economic Times.

amitblogs@gmail.com

Anirudh Burman is an Associate Research Director and Fellow at Carnegie India. He works on key issues relating to public institutions, public administration, the administrative and regulatory state, and state capacity. His current areas of focus are land markets and technology policy. He has also worked extensively on financial regulation and regulatory governance. In addition, he focuses on studying the working of the administrative state in India.

anirudh.burman@gmail.com

Ankita Dinkar is a consultant with the Mercatus Center. She studied law and commerce from Gujarat National Law University. In 2019-20, she worked with a Member of Parliament as a part of the LAMP (Legislative Assistant to Member of Parliament) Fellowship. Post LAMP, she coordinated the efforts of a research team that provided policy inputs to Members of the Upper House affiliated with a national party. While her research has mostly been broad-based - on issues ranging from food insecurity to electricity – she has taken opportunities to conduct in-depth research on center-state relations, tech policy, and procedural aspects of law-making.

Anoosheh Zahra Mirkhushal is a Master's student in Economics at the Toulouse School of Economics. Over the summer of 2023, she is a research intern with the Mercatus Center. At Mercatus, she is working on The 1991 Project, the Oral History Project, and on research related to women's economic emancipation in India. Besides her affinity for all things India, her interests lie in health economics, industrial organization and political economy. She built upon these in her previous research on the market for healthcare in India, the existence of the resource curse in mining and how voters respond to corruption information in Mexico.

Anshul Gupta is an Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officer. He is currently Additional Managing Director (AMD) of the Madhya Pradesh State Electronic Development Corporation. Prior to this, he served as Executive Director, Ujjain Smart City and Municipal Commissioner, Ujjain. Before his government career, he worked as with Goldman Sachs, Accenture, and Larsen & Turbo in India and the USA. He is a graduate of Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Kharagpur and Indian Institute of Management (IIM) Bangalore, holds a Master’s in Police Management from Osmania University, and a Master’s in Public Policy from Jawaharlal Nehru University. He is also Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) level 3.

anshulguptaias2016@gmail.com

Anupam Manur is an Assistant Professor at the Takshashila Institution. He edits and manages the Indian Public Policy Review, an open-access, bi-monthly, peer-reviewed journal of public policy. His research interests lie at the intersection of economics, technology, and public policy. He is currently working on India’s trade policy, platform economics, and India’s ongoing jobs crisis. He has published several opinion pieces in the leading newspapers in India and has edited three books under the Takshashila Institution Press. He teaches economic reasoning, macroeconomics, information economics, and strategic economics in Takshashila’s public policy programs.

anupam@takshashila.org.in

Ashwini Deshpande is Professor of Economics and Founding Director of Centre for Economic Data and Analysis (CEDA) at Ashoka University. She is the author of "Grammar of Caste: Economic Discrimination in Contemporary India" and "Affirmative Action in India". Her latest edited volume is the "Handbook of Economics of Discrimination and Affirmative Action", Springer Major Reference Works. She is the winner of the 1994 Exim Bank award for best dissertation, 2007 VKRV Rao Award for economists under 45, and 2022 Skoch award for gender economics.

ashwini.deshpande@ashoka.edu.in

Avinash Mani Tripathi is a faculty member in the School of Arts and Sciences at Azim Premji University. Previously he had worked as an associate research fellow at the Takshashila Institution. He has extensive experience in public outreach and communication, and has a keen interest in economics and financial risk management. He also enjoys programming in his spare time.

avinash.tripathi@apu.edu.in

Bhargavi Zaveri is a doctoral researcher at the National University of Singapore Faculty of Law. Her core research interests are the working of central banks and courts in developing countries. She has previously worked with research institutions in the areas of financial regulation, bankruptcy law, regulatory governance, and the land market, all in the Indian context.

bhargavizaveri@gmail.com

Bhuvana Anand is Co-Founder of Trayas, a knowledge-first public purpose institution. She has provided research-driven policy advise and support to government and civil society partners across India on creating an enabling environment for enterprises, regulatory simplification, and reforming welfare programs. She led multiple high-visibility research publications and regularly writes in popular media. Previously, she worked with Department for International Development (DFID), Jameel Poverty Action Lab (JPAL), and the Centre for Civil Society. She holds a Bachelor’s degree in economics from St Xavier’s College, Bombay and a Master’s degree from the Fletcher School, Tufts University. She specializes in development economics.

bhuvana@prosperiti.org.in

Bimal Patel is an architect, urbanist, and academic who has crisscrossed disciplinary, professional, and institutional boundaries to explore how architecture, urban design, and urban planning can enrich the lives of people in India’s cities. He received his PhD and Master’s in City Planning, and Master’s in Architecture from the University of California, Berkeley, and his Diploma in Architecture from the School of Architecture, CEPT, Ahmedabad. He is Chairman and Managing Director of HCP Design, Planning and Management Pvt. Ltd. and President of CEPT University. His work has won numerous awards, including the Padma Shri.

bimal@hcp.co.in

C. Rangarajan, a distinguished Indian economist, served as the 19th Governor of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) and held the roles of Member of Parliament, Chairman of the Prime Minister's Economic Advisory Council, and Chairman of the 12th Finance Commission. He also served as the Governor of several Indian states. Currently, he is the Chairman of the Madras School of Economics. After completing his doctoral studies in economics at the University of Pennsylvania, he taught at the Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad before joining the RBI. During his tenure, he implemented crucial reforms, such as adopting market-determined exchange rates and opening up the Indian banking sector, contributing to India's transformation into an open economy.

Daniel M. Rothschild is the Executive Director of the Mercatus Center at George Mason University. He leads strategy and oversees all programs and operations for the organization. Prior to serving in this role at Mercatus, Daniel was director of state projects and a senior fellow with the R Street Institute. He joined R Street in October 2013 after two years at the American Enterprise Institute. Previously, he spent six years in a variety of policy, communications, and project management positions at the Mercatus Center. Dan has a bachelor’s degree from Grinnell College, a master’s degree from the University of Manchester, and a master’s degree in public policy from the Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy at the University of Michigan.

drothschild@mercatus.gmu.edu

Deepak VS is a mechatronics engineer. He started a university club at eighteen that evolved into his startup, Tilt. Tilt brings cycling to hundreds of gated communities across India today. He has over 7 years of experience building a hardware business in India focused on fitness and mobility. He has raised capital from VCs like Y Combinator, ANIM, and dozens of prominent angels.

Devashish Dhar is the author of the bestseller “India’s Blind Spot - Understanding and Managing our Cities”, published by HarperCollins in 2023. He has worked in policy-making, policy advocacy, equity research, and consulting. Prior to working for the World Bank and Amazon, he was Chief of Staff at NITI Aayog. He holds a Master’s in Public Administration from the Harvard Kennedy School, a Master’s in Public Policy from the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy, and a Bachelor’s of Business Studies from Delhi University. He is a Raisina Fellow, an International Visitor Leadership Program (IVLP) Fellow, and has authored articles for various national publications.

dhardev87@gmail.com

Gautam John is the Chief Executive Officer of Rohini Nilekani Philanthropies Foundation. Before this, he spent several years with the Akshara Foundation, building the Karnataka Learning Partnership, and at Pratham Books, building their open-source publishing model. He was a TED India Fellow in 2009. Before entering the non-profit sector, he was an entrepreneur and graduated from the National Law School of India University, Bangalore.

contact@rohininilekaniphilanthropies.org

Gautham Ravichander is a Director at eGov Foundation. He started his career at Janaagraha where he led the Ward Infrastructure Index Program and was a founding team member of The Education Alliance. Today, Gautham leads eGov’s policy engagements and global cooperation efforts with countries and multilateral institutions. He holds a Master’s degree in international business from The Fletcher School at Tufts University. During his time at Tufts, his studies focused on social enterprises and leveraging business models to reach underserved populations. At Fletcher, Gautham organized and co-chaired the first Tufts Innovation Symposium on Scaling Innovation in Emerging Markets.

Haley Larsen is an event manager at the Mercatus Center at George Mason University, where she manages events including Conversations with Tyler, Pluralisms and Civil Exchanges, the Mill Fellowship and donor and Hill staff gatherings.

Hari Krishna Vetharenian is a Data Scientist at the Development Data Lab (DDL), a research lab that harnesses analytical tools to collect, analyze, and visualize development data. DDL’s flagship open data platform, the SHRUG, is a high-resolution, open-access, socio-economic dataset, stitching together 30+ years of socioeconomic data on the universe of individuals and firms in India, with records from administrative datasets, and remotely-sensed measures of crop productivity, economic activity, and poverty. He holds a Master’s degree in Public Policy from the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy, and a Bachelor’s degree in Computer Engineering from the National University of Singapore.

vetharenian@devdatalab.org

Harini Subramani is a lawyer and Founder of HS Law & Associates, a law practice that focuses on M&A and commercial law. Previously, she was a financial journalist, and wrote for the Mint and the Wall Street Journal, among other publications. She has also contributed to agrarian policy through her work at the M.S.Swaminathan Research Foundation, on the Cambodia Atlas on Food Security, a project funded by the UN World Food Programme. She studied economics at the Madras School of Economics and holds an LL.B from the Government Law College, Mumbai.

harini@hslaw.co.in

Ila Patnaik is the Group Chief Economist at the Aditya Birla Group. Prior to this, she was a Professor at the National Institute of Public Finance and Policy (NIPFP). She was the Principal Economic Advisor to the Government of India, and has served on several government advisory committees and working groups on financial policy/regulation. She has also been associated with the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, International Monetary Fund, National Council for Applied Economic Research (NCAER), and the Indian Council for Research in International Economic Relations (ICRIER). She has numerous research papers to her name, and has written extensively for various publications such as the Indian Express and Business Standard. She holds a PhD in Economics from the University of Surrey, UK, and a Master’s from Jawaharlal Nehru University, Delhi.

ila.patnaik@adityabirla.com

Janhavi Nilekani is the Founder-Chairperson of Aastrika Foundation, an initiative of Nilekani Philanthropies. Inspired by her personal experience with the pitifully minimal standard of maternal care, Aastrika Foundation aims to strengthen health systems through capacity building of healthcare workers across India through multiple programs. In 2021, Nilekani founded Aastrika Midwifery Centre, a birth centre in Bengaluru that provides ethical and evidence-based maternity care to women and families. Nilekani earned her Ph.D. in Public Policy from Harvard University and her BA cum laude in economics and international studies from Yale University. During her Ph.D., Nilekani trained in environmental and developmental economics with a research specialization in air pollution in India.

Jayme Lemke (Ph.D., Economics, George Mason University) is a Senior Research Fellow at the Mercatus Center at George Mason University and a Senior Fellow in the F.A. Hayek Program for Advanced Study in Philosophy, Politics, and Economics.

Her specialization is in public choice economics, constitutional political economy, and the political economy of women’s rights. In addition to her work on the evolution of women’s economic rights and opportunities in United States history, Jayme has written on public choice and institutional theory as applied to policing, higher education and other local public services. Her research on these topics has appeared in outlets such as the Journal of Institutional Economics, Public Choice, and the Review of Austrian Economics.

In addition, Jayme is co-editor with Virgil H. Storr of Economy, Polity, and Society, an interdisciplinary book series in political economy published currently by Lexington Books, an imprint of Rowman & Littlefield Publishing. She is also an associate editor for the Review of Behavioral Economics and Secretary of the Society for the Development of Austrian Economics.

jlemke@mercatus.gmu.edu

Jayat Joshi is a Research Associate with the Indian Political Economy Program at the Mercatus Center. He is studying the development of ideas of economic growth within the government, and how this can inform public policy. He graduated in 2022 with an integrated Master's in Development Studies from the Indian Institute of Technology Madras. In 2021 and 2022, he received the Don Lavoie Fellowship at the Mercatus Center, and in 2022, the Prometheus Fellowship at Students For Liberty. His independent research and opinion writing has been featured in The New Indian Express, The Leaflet, Economic and Political Weekly, and Econlib.

Jeff Holmes is the creative director at Mercatus, where he oversees the production of podcasts such as Ideas of India and Conversations with Tyler and launches new web products like the The 1991 Project and Discourse Magazine.

jholmes@mercatus.gmu.edu

Jennifer Zambone is the Chief Operating Officer at the Mercatus Center at George Mason University. Jennifer has been at Mercatus for over 15 years and has served in numerous roles previously, including Director of Foundations Strategy and Publications Manager. She has a bachelor’s degree in Biology and English and a law degree from Washington and Lee University.

jzambone@mercatus.gmu.edu

John Firth is an economist with research interests in development, growth, finance, and causal inference. He has conducted fieldwork in India with the Jameel Poverty Action Lab (JPAL), worked with the Center for Global Development in Washington DC, and was an economics professor at the University of Notre Dame, before moving to Oxford University's Global Priorities Institute, where he is a Senior Research Fellow in Economics. He also actively supports the Harish & Bina Shah Foundation, and serves on the Board of Trustees of Ashoka University. He holds a PhD in Economics from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and a Bachelor’s in Philosophy from the University of Notre Dame.

john.s.firth@gmail.com

K.P. Krishnan is an Honorary Research Professor at the Centre for Policy Research (CPR) in New Delhi. Previously, he was the Investor Education and Protection Fund Authority (IEPF) Chair Professor at the National Council for Applied Economics Research (NCAER). He joined the Indian Administrative Service (IAS) in 1983 and superannuated from the service in 2019 as Secretary, Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship, Government of India. He has served in various government positions and the World Bank in the areas of economic policy and development, and authored a number of reports and published many academic papers. In 2012 he was a Visiting Professor in the University of Pennsylvania Law School.

kpk1959@gmail.com

Kadambari Shah is a Research Associate with the Indian Political Economy program at the Mercatus Center at George Mason University. Her focus areas are state capacity, urban policy, and gender. Previously, she worked at the Energy Policy Institute at the University of Chicago and at IDFC Institute. She holds a Masters in International Development and Policy from the Harris School of Public Policy, University of Chicago, a postgraduate degree in Economics and Finance from the Meghnad Desai Academy of Economics, and a Bachelor of Arts degree (Economics and English Literature, Honors) from St. Xavier’s College (Autonomous), Mumbai.

kshah@mercatus.gmu.edu

Karthik Muralidharan is the Tata Chancellor’s Professor of Economics at the University of California, San Diego (UCSD). He holds AB and PhD degrees in Economics from Harvard and an MPhil in Economics from Cambridge, UK. He is a Research Associate of the NBER and a Board Member and Global Co-Chair of Education at JPAL. His research aims to understand/improve the effectiveness of public expenditure and service delivery in developing countries. He is also the Founder and Scientific Director of the Centre for Effective Governance of Indian States (CEGIS). His book on “Accelerating India's Development: A State-Led Roadmap for Effective Governance” will be released by Penguin in late 2023.

Kartik Akhileswaran is an experienced policy advisor and researcher on inclusive growth. He is the Co-Founder of Growth Teams, which aims to empower Indian state governments to problem solve for investment, exports, and jobs. Prior to this, he worked on private sector development, structural transformation, and firm productivity with Centre for Effective Governance in Indian States (CEGIS) in India and with the Governments of Ethiopia and Sierra Leone through the Tony Blair Institute. He has also held positions with the World Bank, Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC), Jameel Poverty Action Lab (JPAL), and Innovations for Poverty Action (IPA). He holds a Master’s in Public Administration in International Development (MPA/ID) from the Harvard Kennedy School.

kartik@growth-teams.org

Katie Kinderknecht is the Director of Events at the Mercatus Center at George Mason University. Before joining Mercatus, Katie worked as an event producer for author and podcast host Dave Ramsey at Ramsey Solutions. She received her bachelor's degree in International Relations and Economics from American University.

kkinderknecht@mercatus.gmu.edu

Kinshu Dang, as the Engagement Lead at the Council on Energy, Environment and Water (CEEW), focuses on making CEEW’s research useful for government stakeholders, multilaterals, industry associations, and embassies. She also supports the India Program at Mercatus with outreach and communications. A former journalist at NDTV, she reported on public policy and rights issues from disadvantaged, remote, and militarized areas. She then transitioned to policymaking through the Legislative Assistant to a Member of Parliament (LAMP) Fellowship. Later, she joined the Trinamool Congress, leading their video campaign for the 2019 General Elections and establishing communication driven platforms for citizen engagement. She holds a distinguished degree in English literature from Ramjas College, Delhi.

kinshu.dang@ceew.in

Krish Ashok heads the Digital Workplace unit for Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) that focuses on employee experience and the future of work. He is also the author of “Masala Lab: The Science of Indian Cooking”, published by Penguin Random House and is a multi-instrumentalist musician.

krishashok@gmail.com

Kshitij Batra is CEO and Co-Founder of the Terra Economics & Analytics Lab (TEAL), a technology startup digitizing land and property records in India. He has previously served as Additional Private Secretary to the Government of India, and worked at the IDFC Institute, Housing.com, the World Bank in Washington DC, and the Jameel Poverty Action Lab (JPAL) and NERA Economic Consulting in New York. He holds a Master’s in Public Administration, International Development (MPA/ID) from the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University and a Bachelor’s in Economics with Honors from Grinnell College.

Lant Pritchett is a development economist. He received his PhD from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and has taught and worked at Harvard University, Oxford University, the London School of Economics, and the World Bank. He has published on a wide range of development topics including economic growth, state capability, education, health, labor mobility, and poverty. He is affiliated with the Center for Policy Research in New Delhi.

lant.hks@gmail.com

M. R. Madhavan is President and Co-Founder of PRS Legislative Research in New Delhi. His work focuses on improving the effectiveness of legislatures as the key decision-making bodies in a democracy. He is a frequent columnist on issues related to legislative issues and representation, and has contributed several book chapters on these topics. Prior to starting PRS in 2005, he worked with ICICI Securities and Bank of America as an analyst covering equity, interest rates, and currency markets. He has a PhD and MBA from the Indian Institute of Management (IIM) Calcutta, and holds a Bachelor’s in Technology degree from the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Madras.

madhavan@prsindia.org

Mahima Vashisht writes “Womaning in India” – a newsletter in which she highlights gender bias blind spots in personal, professional, and public spaces. Womaning has over 5000 subscribers and has won several awards. She has organized various workshops to help organizations build more inclusive workplaces. With a career in the development sector spanning 15 years, she has worked as a civil servant – managing media relations for the Prime Minister's Office – and with organizations like Tata Trusts, UNICEF, and World Bank. She is a behavior change expert and designed the national campaign to promote toilet use in rural India under Swachh Bharat.

mahima.vashisht@gmail.com

Manish Sabharwal is Vice-Chairman of Teamlease Services, India’s largest staffing and human capital firm. He earlier co-founded India Life and has served as CEO of Hewitt Outsourcing (Asia) in Singapore. 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 and a columnist for Indian Express. He served as an Independent Director on the Board of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI). He got his MBA from The Wharton School and is an alumnus of Shri Ram College, Delhi and Mayo College, Ajmer.

manish@teamlease.com

Mittali Sethi is an Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officer of the 2017 batch, Maharashtra cadre. She has served as the Sub Divisional Magistrate at Melghat in the Amravati district and CEO Zilla Parishad (rural local body) in the Chandrapur district. She is currently serving as the Director of VANAMATI, an agricultural research and extension institute. Her areas of interest and work are forest rights and tribal issues, public health, waste, and climate change as it applies to people’s lives, and participatory education-with-love for both children and adults.

Mohit Satyanand is an angel Investor, economy watcher, and student of public policy.

mohit.satyanand@gmail.com

Montek Singh Ahluwalia, an economist and civil servant, held various positions in the Government of India, including Deputy Chairman of the Planning Commission; Member of Prime Minister’s Economic Advisory Council; and Finance Secretary. He also held several roles at the World Bank and International Monetary Fund. Currently, he is a Distinguished Fellow at the Centre for Social and Economic Progress in New Delhi. An alumnus of Oxford University, he has published papers in professional journals and contributed to books. He is the author of the M-document, which provided a blueprint for India’s economic reforms in 1991. In 2019, he published his memoir, “Backstage: The story of India’s high growth years”.

Nandan Nilekani is the Co-Founder and Chairman of Infosys Technologies Limited. He was the Founding Chairman of the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) in the rank of a Cabinet Minister from 2009-2014. Most recently, Nilekani is Co-founder and Chairman of EkStep, a non-profit education platform. Nilekani is the author of Imagining India and co-author with Viral Shah of Rebooting India: Realizing a Billion Aspirations. His various awards include the Joseph Schumpeter prize and the Padma Bhushan award. In 2019, He was inducted as an International Honorary Member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. In 2017, Nilekani and his wife Rohini Nilekani signed the Giving Pledge, which commits half their wealth to philanthropic causes.

Narayan Ramachandran is co-founder and fellow of the Takshashila Institution, with research interest in inclusive economics and topics of strategic national importance. He is the Chairman and CEO of KludeIn Acquisition Corporation, a special purpose acquisition company listed on NASDAQ. Narayan is also the co-chairman of Unitus Capital, India's largest social enterprise bank and chairman of Vivriti Asset Management, Caspian Debt and UC Inclusive Credit, pioneering firms working to bring credit to underserved markets. Narayan was previously chairman of RBL Bank and country head of Morgan Stanley India He writes a fortnightly column titled “A Visible Hand" for Mint.

narayan.ramachand@gmail.com

Naushad Forbes is Co-Chairman of Forbes Marshall. He is Chairman, Ananta Aspen Centre, and Centre for Technology, Innovation and Economic Research (CTIER). Forbes Marshall helps industries build/sustain highly efficient plants by reducing waste, optimizing energy efficiency, and complying with regulatory requirements. He is on the board of several educational institutions and public companies, and has been an active member of the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII), of which he was President in 2016–17. He is a Founding Member of Nayanta University, a full-service university opening in 2024. His book, “The Struggle and the Promise: Restoring India’s Potential”, was published by HarperCollins in 2022.

Neelanjan Sircar is a senior fellow at the Centre for Policy Research in New Delhi. His work has focuses on welfare delivery, party and electoral behavior, and urbanization. His recent book Colossus: The Anatomy of Delhi, co-edited with Sanjoy Chakravorty, uses a combination of new survey data and novel statistical methods to analyze structural and social changes in the National Capital Region (NCR) around New Delhi. He also writes a regular column in the Hindustan Times and provides television commentary on Indian elections. Neelanjan received a BA in applied mathematics and economics from UC Berkeley in 2003 and a PhD in political science from Columbia University in 2014.

neelanjan.sircar@gmail.com

Niranjan Rajadhyaksha is the Executive Director of Artha India Research Advisors. He was previously the Executive Editor of Mint, where he continues to write a fortnightly column on economics. He is a member of the advisory board of the Centre for Civil Society and a member of the academic advisory board of the Meghnad Desai Academy of Economics.

niranjan.rajadhyaksha@gmail.com

Nirupama Kulkarni is Senior Research Director at Centre for Advanced Financial Research and Learning (CAFRAL). She works on academic and policy research in the areas of banking, household finance, real estate and monetary policy. Her work has appeared in leading academic journals such as the Journal of Monetary Economics and Journal of Empirical and Legal Studies. She has a Bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Bombay, an MBA from the Stern School of Business, New York University, and a PhD in business administration (finance and real estate) from Haas School of Business, University of California, Berkeley. She has been the recipient of various awards and fellowships.

nirupama.kulkarni@gmail.com

Nitin Pai is Co-Founder and Director of the Takshashila Institution, an independent centre for research and education in public policy. His research includes information warfare and the geopolitics of the Indo-Pacific. He is the author of “Nitopadesha - Moral Tales for Good Citizens” and co-editor of “India’s Marathon: Reshaping the Post-Pandemic World Order”. He is a columnist with Mint and ThePrint. Previously, he spent over a decade the Singapore government, working in technology foresight. 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 (NTU).

nitin.pai@takshashila.org.in

Parth Ahya is an Associate at Schmidt Futures, a philanthropic initiative of Eric and Wendy Schmidt, where he leads programs on market-shaping, immigration, and S&T policy. Prior to his current role, he founded Taimaka, a Nigeria-based nonprofit treating and improving clinical protocols for acute malnutrition in kids. He graduated with a Bachelor’s degree in Philosophy and Theology (First Class Honours) from Oxford University.

pahya@schmidtfutures.com

Poornima Dore is Venture Partner at Elevar Equity. A member of the TAS cadre, she has earlier worked as Director, Analytics, Insights & Impact at the Tata Trusts and led the Structured Investments vertical at Tata Capital Ltd. She is an advocate of harnessing risk capital for sustainable growth and development. She serves on the boards of select institutions and ministerial committees. She is well published, her latest book being “Regional Economic Diversity – Lessons from an Emergent India”, and is a visiting faculty at the XLRI School of Management. She is also a vocalist and western percussionist (drummer).

Pramit Bhattacharya is a columnist who writes on statistics and economics. His “Truth, Lies, and Statistics” column appears in Mint, and his “Simply Economics” column is published in Hindustan Times. He was earlier the Data Editor at Mint, where he helped set up one of the country’s first data journalism units, Plain Facts, in 2014.

pramit.1987@gmail.com

Pranay Kotasthane is a researcher at the Takshashila Institution. His current research includes high-tech geopolitics. He teaches public policy, international relations, and public finance at Takshashila’s graduate and post-graduate programs. He co-writes “Anticipating the Unintended”, a newsletter on public policy ideas and frameworks, and co-hosts “Puliyabaazi”, a popular Hindi-Urdu podcast on politics and policy and technology. He has co-authored “Missing in Action: Why You Should Care About Public Policy”.

pranay@takshashila.org.in

Prasanta Kumar Ghosh is an Associate Professor in the Department of Electrical Engineering, Indian Institute of Science (IISc). He holds a PhD from the University of Southern California. He has approximately 20 years of research experience in science and technology related to speech, audio, and language, particularly in Indian languages. He has taken up major initiatives for creating open-sourced resources and models in Indic languages through projects like RESPIN, SYSPIN and Vaani.

Prashant Narang is Senior Fellow - Research and Training Programs at the Centre for Civil Society (CCS). At CCS, his work focuses on street vending regulations, ease of doing business, and K-12 education laws.

prashantnarang297@gmail.com

Praveen Ravi works with the Centre for Effective Governance of Indian States (CEGIS), where he monitors the design and development of solutions focused on improving service delivery outcomes through better governance. He also leads the States and Markets vertical of CEGIS, which supports governments in identifying and implementing the optimal mix of provision and procurement, policy, and regulatory interventions for cost-effective service delivery. Prior to CEGIS, he worked with Athena Infonomics and KPMG in their Governance/ Service Delivery advisory practices.

praveen@cegis.org

Pritika Hingorani is CEO (India) at Artha Global. She co-leads Artha’s work on cities and urbanization. Previously, she helped scale IDFC Institute, as Director and Research Fellow. Previously, she spent several years in economic consulting with Charles River Associates in Washington DC and London. She has a Master’s in City Planning from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), and a dual Bachelor’s degree in Economics and Political Science (Honors) from Bryn Mawr College. She is on the Board of Advisors for SaveLife Foundation, on the Board of Reviews for CEPT University, and the recipient of MIT’s Excellence in Public Service Award.

Raahil Rai is a Co-Founder of WIP, a start-up focused on guiding students to more suitable careers of their choosing using AI (wip.pet). He previously worked at Omidyar Network India, focusing on digital trust and safety, and at Dalberg, where he was involved in country-scale digital initiatives. He also contributed to the early stages of developing DIKSHA while working in a Chief of Staff-like role at the Government of India’s Ministry of Education. He studied Economics at the University of Cambridge and holds an MBA from INSEAD.

rairaahil@gmail.com

Rahul Ahluwalia is Co-Founder of the Foundation for Economic Development. Previously, he led work on governance at Central Square Foundation. Before that, he worked on economic policy formulation and research at NITI Aayog, the Indian government’s policy think tank. He also worked at the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation on identifying ways to improve governance in India. He has previously carried out research on economic and social sector policy at Brookings, the Institute for Financial Management and Research (IFMR), and the Indian School of Business, and also worked in the corporate sector in consulting and marketing roles.

ahluwalia.rahul@gmail.com

Rahul Matthan is a Partner with Trilegal, a leading law firm in India. He heads its technology practice group and specializes in data protection and internet regulation. He has been actively involved in public policy in the technology space, particularly in relation to digital public infrastructure. He is currently a Digital Public Infrastructure (DPI) advisor to the Ministry of Finance, Government of India.

rahul.matthan@trilegal.com

Rahul Sagar is a Global Network Associate Professor of Political Science at NYU Abu Dhabi. Previously, he taught at Yale NUS College, the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy, and Princeton University. His books include “To Raise a Fallen People: The Nineteenth-Century Origins of Indian Views of the World”, “The Progressive Maharaja: Sir Madhava Rao’s Hints on the Art and Science of Government”, and “Secrets and Leaks: The Dilemma of State Secrecy”. His research has appeared in various journals, edited volumes, and media outlets around the world. He holds a PhD in Government from Harvard University and a Bachelor's degree in Philosophy, Politics, and Economics from the University of Oxford.

Rajeev Mantri is Founder and Managing Director of the venture investment firm Navam Capital, investing in early-stage deep tech and frontier tech startups. He is also the co-author of the bestselling book “A New Idea Of India”.

Renuka Sane is Research Director at TrustBridge, an organization that works in the areas of rule of law in the economy. Her research interests are in financial regulation, the regulatory state, household finance, credit, and bankruptcy.

renuka@trustbridge.in

Riddhi Bhandari is an anthropologist with research interests in everyday economic practices, aspirations, and enterprise culture in contemporary, post-liberalization India. Currently, she is working on two research projects: tourism entrepreneurship and digital self-help gurus. She is an Assistant Professor at O.P. Jindal Global University’s School of Liberal Arts and Humanities, and a Junior Fellow at Nehru Memorial Museum and Library, where she is completing her book manuscript on tourism entrepreneurship in post-liberalization India.

rbhandari1@jgu.edu.in

Rohini Nilekani is the Chairperson of Rohini Nilekani Philanthropies and Co-founder and Director of EkStep, a non-profit education platform. She previously founded Arghyam, a foundation supporting sustainable water and sanitation initiatives across India. In 2004, she founded Pratham Books, a non-profit children’s publisher that reached millions during her tenure. A former journalist, Nilekani has published books for both adults and young children, including Stillborn, Uncommon Ground, and Annual Haircut Day. Her latest book, published in August 2022, is Samaaj, Sarkaar, Bazaar: A Citizen-First Approach. Nilekani is a committed philanthropist and in 2017, she and her husband Nandan Nilekani signed the Giving Pledge, which commits half their wealth to philanthropic causes.

Rohit Lamba is an Assistant Professor of Economics at Penn State University. He received a PhD in economics from Princeton University. He publishes regularly in leading academic journals and newspapers. He has also worked for the Office of the Chief Economic Advisor under two different Chief Economic Advisors to the Government of India.

Rudra Chaudhuri is Director of Carnegie India. His research focuses on the diplomatic history of South Asia, contemporary security issues, and the role of emerging technologies in diplomacy and statecraft. He is the author of “Forged in Crisis: India and the United States Since 1947” (Hurst, UK, 2013; Oxford University Press, USA, 2014; and Harper Collins, South Asia 2014). He is the editor of “War and Peace in Contemporary India” (Routledge, UK). His research has been published in scholarly journals like International History Review, Diplomacy and Statecraft, Journal of Strategic Studies, International Affairs, RUSI Journal, India Review, Defense Studies, among others.

Rudra.Chaudhuri@ceip.org

Rukmini S is an award-winning data communicator and author. She was the Data Editor of The Hindu and HuffPost India, and is the author of the book “Whole Numbers and Half Truths: What Data Can and Cannot Tell Us About Modern India”. She is the Director of Datarivu, a data storytelling start-up, and Founder of Data For India, an Indian public data platform.

Sahil Deo is a co-founder of CPC Analytics, a boutique data-driven policy consulting firm with offices in Berlin and Pune. As a part of CPC Analytics, he has consulted a range of multilateral, bilateral & private sector organizations in Europe, Asia, and Africa. He has a PhD in Governance from the Hertie School, Berlin.

S.deo@cpc-analytics.com

Santosh Harish leads Open Philanthropy’s grantmaking in South Asian Air. Prior to this, he was a Fellow at the Centre for Policy Research, New Delhi, working with the Initiative for Climate, Energy and Environment. Before that, he worked as the Associate Director—Research at the India center of the Energy Policy Institute at the University of Chicago, and did post-doctoral fellowships with the Jameel Poverty Action Lab (JPAL) South Asia and Evidence for Policy Design. He has a Bachelor’s in Technology from the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Madras and a PhD in Engineering and Public Policy from Carnegie Mellon University.

santosh@openphilanthropy.org

Saon Ray is an economist specializing in industry and international trade issues. Her areas of interest include global value chains, technological upgrading of industries, free trade agreements and trade creation effects, technology transfer, and foreign direct investment. She has also worked on the efficiency and productivity of firms, financial inclusion, energy, and climate change related issues. Her latest book is “Global Cooperation and G20: Role of Finance Track”.

saonray@gmail.com

Shamika Ravi is a Member of the Economic Advisory Council to the Prime Minister and Secretary to Government of India. Previously, she held senior positions at Brookings India, the Observer Research Foundation, and the Brookings Institution. Her research focuses on economics of development including areas of finance, healthcare, urbanization, gender equality, and welfare and poverty. She has also taught at various schools across India, including the Indian School of Business and BITS School of Management. She publishes extensively in academic journals and media outlets. She holds a PhD from New York University, a Master’s from Delhi School of Economics, and a Bachelor’s degree from the Lady Shri Ram College for Women, all in economics.

Shekhar Singh is an Indian Administrative Service (IAS) Officer from the Maharashtra cadre (2012 batch). His interests are in education, urban development and planning, and healthcare. He is currently posted as Municipal Commissioner at Pimpri-Chinchwad Municipal Corporation. Previously, he was CEO ZP at Sindhudurg, where he was awarded the cleanest district award by the Prime Minister. He was also Collector at Gadchiroli, where he implemented the Public Distribution System based rice fortification project that was later scaled up nationally by NITI Aayog. He holds a Bachelor's degree in technology from the Indian Institute of Technology, Guwahati, and a Master's degree in structural engineering from the University of California, Berkeley.

Shreyas Narla is a Research Associate with the Indian Political Economy program at the Mercatus Center at George Mason University. Previously, Shreyas served as a law clerk at the Supreme Court of India. He also worked as a research associate at the Law Ministry, Government of India and as a legislative aide to a Member of the Parliament as a LAMP Fellow. He has a law degree from University of Mumbai. He has also studied Indian art history at Dr Bhau Daji Lad Museum in Mumbai.

snarla@mercatus.gmu.edu

Shruti Rajagopalan is a Senior Research Fellow at the Mercatus Center at George Mason University and a Fellow at the Classical Liberal Institute at New York University School of Law. She leads the Indian Political Economy research program and Emergent Ventures India at Mercatus. She was an Associate Professor of Economics at Purchase College, State University of New York. She earned her Ph.D. in economics from George Mason University in 2013. Additionally, she has a BA (hons) in Economics and an LL.B. from University of Delhi and an LL.M. from the European Masters in Law and Economics Program at University of Hamburg, Ghent University, and University of Bologna.

srajagopalan@mercatus.gmu.edu

Shubho Roy is a researcher interested in law and economics. Currently, he works on analyzing the economic costs of regulations governing worker safety and industrial buildings at Trayas. He is also pursuing a JSD at the University of Chicago. In the past, he has worked on financial regulation, drafting India's bankruptcy laws, and as a clerk to a Judge of the Supreme Court of India.

shubho@prosperiti.org.in

Somasekhar Sundaresan is a lawyer practicing as counsel in the areas of financial sector regulation, competition law, company law, exchange controls, and related litigation. As a member of committees set up by the Government of India, Securities and Exchange Board of India, and the Reserve Bank of India, he has drafted laws governing takeovers, insider trading, and corporate governance of banks. He was involved in drafting the Indian Financial Code. He currently serves on the Advisory Committee of the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Board of India; is a member of the Board of Studies in the Institute of Law, Nirma University; a member of the Advisory Board of Indian Law Review; and teaches securities law.

som@somasekhar.in

Dr. Stefanie Haeffele is a Senior Research Fellow and the Senior Program and Operations Director of Academic & Student Programs at the Mercatus Center at George Mason University, where she works on a team aimed to recruit, train, and support graduate students pursuing careers in academia, government, and policy. She is also a Senior Fellow with the F. A. Hayek Program for Advanced Study in Philosophy, Politics, and Economics at the Mercatus Center. Her work examines post-disaster community recovery as well as the political economy of nonprofit organizations, specifically focusing on organizations that attempt to provide affordable housing to the poor. She previously worked in emergency and disaster operations at both the US Federal Emergency Management Agency and then the US Forest Service.

Susan Thomas studied civil engineering at the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Bombay, economics at University of Southern California, Los Angeles, and was faculty at Indira Gandhi Institute of Development Research (IGIDR) in Mumbai. She is now Co-Founder at XKDR Forum. She does quantitative and policy-oriented research in the fields of finance, government contracting, and courts, approaching these questions in an inter-disciplinary fashion. She participated in the policy process in the equity market reforms in the 1990s and 2000s, and the bankruptcy reforms of the 2010s.

Suyash Rai is a researcher working on political economy, public administration and professions in India. He has also worked as a policy analyst in the areas of public finance, financial sector regulation, and infrastructure regulation and financing.

Tanuj Bhojwani is Head of People+AI. He works on how Artificial Intelligence tools can help create an inclusive path to prosperity for all Indians.

Tyler Cowen is the Holbert L. Harris Chair of Economics at George Mason University and serves as chairman and faculty director of the Mercatus Center at George Mason University. With colleague Alex Tabarrok, Tyler is coauthor of the popular economics blog Marginal Revolution and cofounder of the online educational platform Marginal Revolution University. Tyler is the author of several bestselling books and is widely published in academic journals and the popular media. His latest book is Talent: How to Identify Energizers, Creatives, and Winners Around the World, co-authored with Daniel Gross. Tyler hosts the podcast Conversations with Tyler and writes a column for Bloomberg View. Tyler graduated from George Mason University with a BS in economics and received his PhD in economics from Harvard University.

tcowen@gmu.edu

V. Anantha Nageswaran is Chief Economic Adviser to the Government of India. He writes a weekly column for Mint and has co-authored four books. He has taught at several business schools in India and Singapore, and has served on various Academic Advisory Boards. He was a Co-Founder of Aavishkaar Venture Capital Fund and the Takshashila Institution, and a Part-Time Member of India’s Economic Advisory Council to the Prime Minister. In his corporate career, he held senior positions at the Union Bank of Switzerland, Credit Suisse, Asia Research, and Julius Baer. He was an Independent Director on the boards of various organizations including TVS Supply Chain Solutions and Aparajitha Corporate Services. He received a Post-Graduate Diploma in Management from the Indian Institute of Management (IIM), Ahmedabad, and a PhD from the University of Massachusetts in Amherst.

Vidya Mahambare is a Union Bank Chair Professor of Economics and Director (Research) at Great Lakes Institute of Management. Earlier, she was Director and Principal Economist at CRISI and prior to it, was with Cardiff Business School, UK. She is an EV grant winner and received the World Bank South Asia grant to study the gender differences in worker turnover in the textile sector. She has published in Economics Letters, Feminist Economics, Oxford Economic Papers, and World Development, among others. She regularly writes in Mint, Times of India, Hindu Business Line, and ThePrint, and has also written for the Wall Street Journal.

vidya.m@greatlakes.edu.in

Vinay Sitapati is Professor of political science and legal studies at Shiv Nadar Law School in Chennai. He was previously associate professor at Ashoka University and visiting associate professor at Princeton University. He is the author of two best-selling books: ‘Half-Lion: How PV Narasimha Rao Transformed India’ (Penguin/Oxford University Press) and ‘Jugalbandi: The BJP Before Modi’ (Penguin/Hurst). He has a law degree from National Law School Bangalore, a Master’s degree from Harvard Law School, and a PhD from Princeton University.

Zubin Sharma works with Schmidt Futures as a Consultant on their partnerships team and is also the Founder of Project Potential in Bihar, India. Schmidt Futures is a philanthropic initiative co-founded by Eric and Wendy Schmidt, working to connect the brightest minds everywhere with opportunities to solve the world's hardest problems, together. Project Potential aims to attract and develop the talent, ideas, and resources required to end poverty in India’s 100 poorest districts. He is a graduate of the University of Pennsylvania and Yale University.

zsharma1990@gmail.com