Mr Neelkant Mishra, Chief Economist, Axis Bank; Head of Global Time Director, AXIS Capital Research,Whole
Neelkanth joined Axis in May 2023 after a distinguished two-decade career at Credit Suisse, where he served as Co-Head of Asia Pacific Strategy and India Strategist. He is a part-time member of the Indian Prime Minister’s Economic Advisory Council, the part-time Chairman of UIDAI (Aadhaar), and a part-time member of the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI). His advisory roles extend to government bodies such as the India Semiconductor Mission and the 15th & 16th Finance Commissions. In addition, Neelkanth is a member of the CII’s Economic Affairs Council and frequently presents to corporate boards. His professional journey includes stints at HUL and Infosys. An alumnus of IIT-Kanpur, he is a gold-medalist and Distinguished Alumnus Awardee, having ranked fourth in the entrance exam to the IITs.
Ms Sindhu Gangadharan, MD, SAP Labs India; Head, Customer Innovation Services, SAP
Ms Gangadharan, widely known as a technology humanist, has spent over 25 years at SAP, rising from a young developer to the first woman Managing Director of SAP Labs India. In 2024, she took on a global role as Head of Customer Innovation Services at SAP. Celebrated for her inclusive leadership and advocacy for diversity, she champions initiatives like Autism at Work and LGBTQIA+ inclusion. Sindhu also serves on boards including Siemens India and Titan Company, and chairs NASSCOM, shaping India’s USD 1 trillion digital economy vision.
Dr Bhasker Chatterjee, Former Secretary, Government of India, Present Chairman, National Sustainability Reporting and Disclosure, Standards Committee, Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS)
Dr. Bhaskar Chatterjee, acclaimed as the Father of CSR in India, is a former Secretary to the Government of India and ex-Director General & CEO of the Indian Institute of Corporate Affairs. He framed the first CSR guidelines for PSEs (2010) and played a key role in enacting Section 135 of the Companies Act, 2013. He spearheaded the NFCSR at IICA and has led CSR strategy for corporates, including Vedanta. Currently, he chairs CSR and ESG committees, advises corporates, and guides national policy. A respected author, teacher, and thought leader, he has received multiple awards for his pioneering contributions.
Dr Pinky Anand, Senior Advocate, Supreme Court of India
Dr Anand, a trustee of The Arts and Cultural Heritage Trust is a designated senior advocate at the Supreme Court of India and the incumbent Additional Solicitor General of India. A doctorate of law, graduate of Harvard Law School, an Inlaks scholar, honorary professor at Amity Law School, she is the second woman in India to have been awarded this high constitutional law office.
Her laurels include being an alternate country councillor (India) of LAWASIA and the vice president of the Bar Association of India. She has been the recipient of the National Order of Merit awarded by the President of France, and has several awards to her credit, including those for excellence in law awarded by FICCI, Lions Club, Amity University, Bharat Nirman, PHD Chamber for Progress, Harmony and Development. She has also been a spokesperson for the Bharatiya Janata Party and was even leading its all-India legal team at one point.
Mr Javin Aryan, Analyst, SKOCH Development Foundation
Javin Aryan is working with the SKOCH Development Foundation’s India 2047 Centre of Excellence on a public policy research paper on the State of Quantum Technology in India.
Javin is a graduate from the Master of International Affairs program at Columbia University, where he studied security policy, conflict resolution, and East Asia. He has a keen interest in great power competition, US-India-China relations, and technology policy.
Mr N K Singh, Chairman, 15th Finance Commission of India
Mr Singh is a renowned Indian economist, policymaker, and academician, currently Chairman of the 15th Finance Commission. A former Rajya Sabha Member (2008–2014), he earlier chaired the FRBM Review Committee, shaping India’s fiscal consolidation path. As a distinguished civil servant, he served as Expenditure Secretary, Revenue Secretary, and Secretary to the Prime Minister, and played a pivotal role in the 1991 economic reforms. Internationally, his contributions earned him Japan’s “Order of the Rising Sun” in 2016. An acclaimed author and columnist, his books include Politics of Change, Not by Reason Alone, and The New Bihar.
Mr Sharad Sharma, Co-Founder, iSPIRT Foundation
He has three decades of experience in the Internet, Enterprise Software, and Digital Infrastructure markets and is a prominent voice in India’s technology ecosystem. He is a passionate evangelist of the software product ecosystem in India. He co-founded iSPIRT Foundation, a non-profit technology think tank devoted to making India a product nation. Earlier, he chaired NASSCOM Product Forum in its formative years and was a member of the NASSCOM Executive Council from 2009-13. Sharad is a member of the National Startup Advisory Council and SEBI’s Financial and Regulatory Technology Committee. He has also served on RBI’s UK Sinha MSME Committee and National Digital Payments Committee.
Mr L Venkata Subramaniam, Quantum India Lead, IBM
Mr Subramaniam is an experienced leader in Artificial Intelligence and Quantum Computing with a demonstrated history of innovation and product creation. He is a strong researcher who has developed new products, published in top venues, and been recognised as a master inventor. He focuses on AI Science and Quantum AI/ML. My present goal is to advance quantum science and position India as a global leader in the field. He has contributed/led six products, 38 patents, 150 papers and 3300 citations.
Dr M Ramachandran, Distinguished Fellow, SKOCH Development Foundation and Former Secretary, Government of India
M Ramachandran, PhD and MPhil in economic planning from the University of Glasgow, UK, is a former Secretary, Urban Development to the Government of India and Distinguished Fellow and Principal Advisor to the SKOCH Development Foundation. He was identified as the “Infrastructure Man” in the state of Uttaranchal, where he took several new initiatives, including public-private partnership projects, lining up $1 billion Asian Development Bank assistance for the Power, Road and Urban Sectors, $120 million World Bank assistance for the Drinking Water sector and so on.
Prof. R Kavita Rao, Director, National Institute of Public Finance and Policy (NIPFP)
She has received her Ph.D. in economics from the Indian Statistical Institute (ISI), Kolkata, and her Master’s in economics from the Delhi School of Economics. Her research interests include the design and implementation of Goods and Sales Tax (GST) in India, methodology for assessing the comprehensive impact of various tax exemptions on the economy, sectoral interlinkages and their implications in planning a growth strategy.
Mr Sameer Kochhar Chairman SKOCH Group
Reforms historian and author of best-seller ModiNomics, Sameer Kochhar is Chairman, SKOCH Group. He is a passionate advocate of social, digital and financial inclusion and is a foremost expert on governance and inclusive growth. His work has been acclaimed globally and endorsed by Mr Narendra Modi, Mr M Venkaiah Naidu, Dr Manmohan Singh, Mr Arun Jaitley, Mr P Chidambaram, Mr Yashwant Sinha, Dr C Rangarajan and Dr Montek Singh Ahluwalia and so on. In his thinking and writings and activities, his profound admiration for India’s economic reforms and in extension, those outstanding personalities who strive to make these reforms more meaningful and broad-based comes out clear and unambiguous. He has published over 18 volumes.
Prof. S. Mahendra Dev, Chairman, Economic Advisory Council to the Prime Minister (EAC-PM)
He served as Director and Vice Chancellor of IGIDR, Mumbai (2010–2022) and earlier chaired the Commission for Agricultural Costs and Prices. He was Vice Chairman of IFPRI’s Board, a member of the National Statistical Commission, and Director of CESS, Hyderabad. He holds a Ph.D. from the Delhi School of Economics and a post-doctoral from Yale. Currently, he chairs the Institute for Development Studies, AP, and is a Distinguished Professor at ICFAI. An eminent development and agricultural economist, he has 150 publications, 23 books, and has advised global agencies and Indian government committees. He has received several awards, including the Malcolm Adisesaiah Award.
Dr Ashwani Mahajan, National Co-Convener, Swadeshi Jagaran ManchAshwani Mahajan is the National Co-Convener of Swadeshi Jagaran Manch (SJM), an Indian political and cultural organisation. SJM is affiliated with the Rashtriya Swayamsewak Sangh. Mahajan worked as an author and columnist. He is an Associate Professor at PGDAV College, Delhi. Mahajan has been the Chief Editor of the Journal of Contemporary Indian Polity and Economy since 2011. Mahajan is also a Visiting Professor and research guide at Pacific University, Udaipur and Mewar University. He works as a researcher and activist on the World Trade Organisation (WTO) and other international trade agreements.
Ms Radha S Chauhan, Chairperson, Capacity Building Commission
Ms. S. Radha Chauhan is a seasoned civil servant with 36+ years of leadership across public policy, fiscal governance, institutional reform, and digital transformation. She is 1988 Batch IAS officer of UP Cadre (Retd.). She is a former Secretary of the Department of Personnel & Training (DoPT) and Founding CEO of Government eMarketplace (GeM), the world’s largest public procurement portal. She has demonstrated a track record in executive oversight, cross-sectoral policy design, governance modernisation, ESG-linked reforms, and stakeholder engagement at national and international levels. She is recognised for visionary leadership in India’s digital public infrastructure — Aadhaar, eDistrict, UMANG, and GeM. She is also an Architect of “Mission Karmayogi”, India’s digital HR transformation platform for civil servants.
