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Profile of Speakers

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Session I: Inaugural Session

Dr. Amitabh KunduDistinguished Fellow, RIS

Dr. Amitabh Kundu is currently Distinguished Fellow at the Research and Information System for Developing Countries. He is chairing the Committee over viewing the survey for Swach Bharat Mission (Rural). He was Regional Advisor on Poverty at UNESCWA, Beirut during 2017 and Consultant to the Government of Sri Lanka during 2016. Until January 2014, he was Professor at the Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi. He has been the Dean of the School of Social Sciences and has served as a member of National Statistical Commission during 2006-08 and the chairperson of the post-Sachar Evaluation Committee, set up by the Ministry of

Minority Affairs. He has also been a Visiting Professor at the University of Amsterdam, Sciences Po and Maison des Sciences de L’homme in Paris, the University of Kaiserslautern and the University of Wuerzburg in Germany. He has worked as Director at various institutes in India and is on the Editorial Board of Manpower Journal, Urban India, Journal of Educational Planning and Administration and Indian Journal of Labour Economics. He has about thirty five books and three hundred research articles, published in India and abroad, to his credit.

Ms. Bhagyesh SonejiChairperson – ASSOCHAM Western Council, ASSOCHAM

Ms. Bhagyesh Soneji is currently the chairperson of ASSOCHAM Gujarat Council. She has been Chief Managing Director of Ameda Pharma Pvt. Ltd. since January 2003 and Chairperson of the Foreign Trade Committee at Gujarat Chamber of Commerce and Industries since August 2002. As a young proprietress of Elegant India since January 1995, she has coveted many milestones in international trade in the fields of medicine, formulations to handicrafts, embroidery, agricultural items, and software.

Mr. Kenichi YokoyamaCountry Director, India Resident Mission, Asian Development Bank

Mr. Yokoyama serves as the Country Director, India Resident Mission, Asian Development Bank. Prior to his current appointment, he was Country Director in Nepal, heading the Nepal Resident Mission of ADB. Mr. Yokoyama was also Principal Water Resources Specialist in ADB’s South Asia Department, responsible for developing water resources projects in South Asian countries including Bangladesh, India, and Nepal. Prior to joining ADB, Yokoyama worked with the Government of Japan for about 16 years in various capacities. He is an agriculture engineer from Iwate University, Japan and holds a Master’s degree in agriculture economics from Stanford University.

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Prof O. P. MathurSenior Fellow and Head, Urban Studies at the Institute of Social Sciences, New Delhi.

Prof. Om Prakash Mathur is Senior Fellow at the Institute of Social Sciences, New Delhi. He was previously Director, National Institute of Urban Affairs, New Delhi and held the IDFC Chair in Urban Economics at the National Institute of Public Finance and Policy; Director, Multi- level Planning Unit, the Planning Commission of India, United Nations Project Team Leader, Decentralisation Project, Government of Iran; and Senior Economist, the United Nations Centre for Regional Development, Nagoya Japan, He was a member of the former Prime Minister’s National Review Committee on Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission, the JNNURM Technical

Advisory Group, the High Powered Expert Committee on Urban Infrastructure Investment Requirements and the Advisory Group of Experts on Decentralization (AGRED) of UN- Habitat. Currently, he is a member of the GIZ-ADB Sponsored City Development Initiative for Asia (CDIA) and the City Indicators Programme, hosted at the University of Toronto.

Dr Kumar V. PratapJoint Secretary (Infrastructure, Policy & Finance), Ministry of Finance, Government of India

Kumar V Pratap is Joint Secretary (Infrastructure Policy and Finance), Ministry of Finance, Government of India (GoI). Earlier, he has worked with the Prime Minister’s Office, Ministries of Finance and Urban Development, and Planning Commission (all at New Delhi), and the World Bank and Embassy of India (both at Washington DC). He has lectured at the University of Michigan (Ann Arbor), London School of Economics, Singapore Management University, Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy (Singapore), Duke University (North Carolina), University of Maryland (College Park), University of South Carolina (Columbia), World Bank (Washington

DC), Indian Institute of Management (IIM, Lucknow), IIM (Indore),and National Academy of Administration (Mussoorie). He takes a series of ten lectures every year on ‘Infrastructure and the Private Sector’ at the Indian School of Business (Hyderabad and Mohali).

He has been part of many GoI committees in the infrastructure sectors including the Task Force for setting up a Road Regulator, and the chair of the Committee writing the Model Concession Agreement for Public-Private Partnerships (PPPs) in the Urban Water Supply sector. He is on the Board of Directors of IIFCL, IRFC, ONGC Videsh Limited and Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (Beijing).

He has published with Oxford University Press, World Bank, University of Melbourne, Economic and Political Weekly, and the popular press including Economic Times and Business Standard. He has written a book ‘PPPs in Infrastructure - Managing the Challenges’ that has been published by Springer (Singapore) in Jan 2018. He is a recipient of University of Melbourne’s Emerging Leaders Fellowship, University of Maryland’s John J Sexton and Doctoral Fellowships, a letter of appreciation from the Indian Prime Minister, and the National Talent Search Examination (NTSE) scholarship. He has a MBA from IIM, Lucknow (1987) and a PhD from University of Maryland, College Park, USA (2011).

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Mr. Mukesh PuriPrincipal Secretary, Department of Urban development and urban housing, Government of Gujarat

Mr. Mukesh Puri is an IAS officer of 1988 batch. He has done Post Graduation in Economics from the Delhi School of Economics and subsequently obtained a Masters Degree in International Political Economics from the University of Tsukuba, Japan.

He has held several important positions such as Collector and District Magistrate of Kutch and Sabarkantha districts; Commissioner of Commercial Taxes; Principal Secretary, Higher Education; Managing Director, Gujarat Urja Vikas Nigam Ltd., Gujarat State Road Transport Corporation and Principal Secretary, Water Supply Department, Government of Gujarat. Mr. Puri has also worked with UNICEF for

a period of 3 years.Presently he is posted as Principal Secretary, Urban Development & Urban Housing Department,

Government of Gujarat.

Dr. Ke FangManager (Investment Operations), AIIB

Dr. Fang is a Manager at the Investment Operations Department of Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) since July 1 2016.

Prior to joining the AIIB, he worked for the World Bank for 15 years. Most recently he was a Global Lead for Urban Mobility and a Lead Transport Specialist at the World Bank, with extensive knowledge and experience in infrastructure development policies, planning, and programming, particularly in the transport sector in developing countries. During 2013-2015, he was based in New Delhi as the focal person for the World Bank’s Transport Global Practice in South Asia. He also lived in Manila during

2010-2013 where he was leading World Bank’s urban transport operations in East and Southeast Asia. Prior to joining the World Bank, Dr. Fang was an urban planner practicing primarily in Beijing. He participated in several city and regional planning projects led by his PhD advisor, Prof. WU Liangyong during 1995-2000, including the Strategic Planning for Greater Beijing and the 1999 revision to the Beijing Master Plan. His PhD dissertation, focused on the emerging policy issues during Beijing’s rapid urban redevelopment process in the 1990s, was awarded “National Best Dissertation” by Ministry of Education in 2002. His research experience was documented as a Case Study by Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University since 1999 (Case# 1525_0), and was featured in Wild Grass: Three Stories of Change in Modern China, authored by Ian Johnson,a Pulitzer Prize winner, in 2004.

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Mr. Bharat PatelCo-Chairman, ASSOCHAM Western Council

More than 3 decades of ambitious, goal-orientated, energetic and highly skilled information technology leadership with an adept in managing, Business Development, Strategy Planning, Solution Building, Delivery and Complex Program Management. Effective presenter with great interpersonal skills and a stout combination of both technological and business savoir-faire, experienced in collaborating with various parts of the international business. Large experience in identifying, evaluating and selecting appropriate technologies (in house / external) and achieving seamless technology transfers and focusing on new concepts and

emerging technologies and solution architecting in Mobility Solutions at Enterprises and Industrial Automation.

Plenary I: Hierarchical and Inter-Sectoral Coordination in Urban Governance for Facilitating Investment

Dr. Rajesh TandonFormer President, Participatory Research in Asia (PRIA)

Dr Rajesh Tandon is founder-president of Society for Participatory Research in Asia (PRIA www.pria.org), a Knowledge Hub on Participatory Democracy and Inclusive Governance which delivers local solutions for global challenges. He is also currently Co-Chair of the UNESCO Chair on Community Based Research and Social Responsibility in Higher Education.

An electronics engineer from Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Kanpur, he completed his MBA from Indian Institute of Management (IIM) Calcutta, and after

teaching there left to pursue his PhD in Organisational Science at Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland. It was during the Emergency, when completing his field work in rural Rajasthan, that Dr Tandon was inspired to work in the area of voluntary action. On completing his PhD, he returned to India and a few years later established PRIA in 1982.

Dr Tandon advocates for and promotes gender mainstreaming, social accountability, and capacity building of local self-governance (panchayats and urban local bodies) to make India’s cities inclusive, equitable and sustainable. Building alliances and partnerships among diverse sectors is an important part of this work. By working together with a consortium of partners nation-wide, PRIA co-convened several multi-stakeholder dialogues with State Finance Commissions on devolution of funds to urban local bodies. He has given several keynote speeches on sustainable future of cities and capacity building of municipalities, most recently at the international conference on Future of Cities organised by Institute of Town Planners organised in July 2017. Dr Tandon represents PRIA as Member of the Working Group on City Governance & Smart Cities constituted by Niti Aayog as part of Development Agenda for New India @ 75.

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A renowned authority on participatory research, Dr Tandon has authored more than 100 articles, a dozen books and numerous training manuals on democratic local governance, civic engagement, civil society, and people-centred development.

Shri D. S. Mishra Secretary, Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs

Shri D.S. Mishra has served in various key positions for both the Union Government and the Government of Uttar Pradesh during his career, like as Principal Secretary (Appointments and Personnel), Secretary (Tax and Registration), Secretary (Health and Family Welfare), Managing Director of Uttar Pradesh Scheduled Caste Finance and Development Corporation (SDCFC), District Magistrate and Collector of Agra and Sonbhadra districts, Vice Chairman of Kanpur Development Authority (KDA) and as the Municipal Commissioner of Kanpur in the Uttar Pradesh Government,[2][3] and as the Union Housing and Urban Affairs Secretary, Additional

Secretary in the Ministry of Urban Development, Joint Secretary in the Ministry of Mines, Joint Secretary in the Ministry of Home Affairs and as the Chief Vigilance Officer (CVO) of the Airports Authority of India (AAI) in the Union Government.

Shri Mishra is graduate (BTech) in Electrical Engineering from IIT Kanpur. He’s also holds a MBA degree in International Business from the University of Western Sydney. Sharma also holds a postgraduate diploma in Public Policy from International Institute of Social Studies, The Hague. In addition, Sharma holds a postgraduate diploma in Human Resource Management.

Dr. P. S. N. RaoDirector, School of Planning and Architecture

Prof. Dr. P.S.N. Rao is an eminent personality in the real estate, housing and urban development sector in India, playing a proactive role as an academician, consultant, policy advocate and industry advisor for over 25 years. He is trained an architect, civil engineer and town planner. He is a recipient of the SPA Gold Medal, Indian Buildings Congress Medal, the AICTE Young Teachers’ Award, Shiksha Rattan Puraskar and Best Citizens Award.

Presently, he is Professor and Head, Department of Housing, School of Planning and Architecture ( SPA ), New Delhi, ( Ministry of HRD, Government of India) where

he is also Coordinator ( Research) and Coordinator ( Future Cities ).Prof. Rao is the founder Chairman, National Association of Realtors-India ( NAR-INDIA ), the apex

industry association for realtors in India at the national level, which is affiliated to the NAR, USA ( a 1.2 million member strong organisation) . Currently, there are 1,700 real estate firms/companies as Members of NAR-INDIA, spread across 24 cities in the country. The objectives of NAR-INDIA are to streamline the real estate industry practices so that transparency and good governance prevail and the consumer gets value for money.

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Prof. Sebastian MorrisProfessor, Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad (IIMA)

Prof. Sebastian Morris is on the faculty of IIM, Ahmedabad since June 1992. Earlier, he was on the faculty of Institute of Public Enterprise, Hyderabad for about eight years.

His current research is on Study of Determinants of Foreign Direct Investments (FDI) and strategies to attract FDI to Gujarat, Strategy for restructuring of the electricity transmission, distribution and trading businesses in Haryana in context of the changes brought about by the Electricity Act 2003, Role of Small Scale Industries in the Age of Liberalisation and Pricing and Financing of Water, for Country Water

Resources Sector Strategy, (World Bank).He has worked on several high powered committees appointed by the Planning Commission,

Government of India, Government of Gujarat, state and central public sector enterprises and Confederation of Indian Industry.

He is M.Sc. (five year integrated in Physics), of the Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay and fellow of IIM Calcutta. His doctoral dissertation was titled: Direct Foreign Investments from India (1964 83).

Dr. Rohit YadavSecretary, Urban Administration and Development (UA&D)

DR. Rohit Yadav is the current secretary for the Urban Administration and Development Department for the Government of Chhattisgarh. He is a serving officer in the Indian Administrative Service.

Plenary II : Legal and Institutional Issues in Developing Sustainable and Inclusive Urban Infrastructure

Dr. Sheela PatelSociety for the Promotion of Area Resource Centers (SPARC)

Dr. Sheela Patel is the founder Director of the Society for Promotion of Area Resource Centres (SPARC), an NGO that has been working since 1984 to support community organizations of the urban poor in their efforts to access secure housing and basic amenities and seek their right to the city. She is widely recognized – nationally and internationally – for seeking urgent attention to the issues of urban poverty, housing and infrastructure onto the radar of governments, bilateral and international agencies, foundations and other organizations.

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SPARC has been working in alliance with two Community Based Organizations – National Slum Dwellers Federation (NSDF) and Mahila Milan (women’s collectives in slums) that are active in 70 cities in different states of India.

Since 1999, she has also been Secretary and Chief Executive of SPARC Samudaya Nirman Sahayak (SSNS), a non-profit company set up to assist slum communities take on construction projects in cities to provide slum dwellers to build homes and sanitation for themselves. She is a founder member of Slum/Shack Dwellers International (SDI), an international network of poor people’s organizations and the NGOs that support them in Asia, Africa and Latin America, and is currently its Chairperson.

Dr. Dinesh AwasthiEntrepreneurship Development Institute of India (EDII)

Dr. Dinesh Awasthi, an Economist by training, is Former Professor & Director, Entrepreneurship Development Institute of India (EDI), Ahmedabad. He was a Professor of Strategic Management and Entrepreneurship at the Indian Institute of Management, Lucknow, before joining EDI as Director in 2003. Currently, he is a Visiting Professor at the Sardar Patel Institute of Economic and Social Research, Ahmedabad; and, Adviser, Society for Research and Initiatives in Sustainable Technologies and Institution (SRISTI), an Ahmedabad based organisation working in the space of grass-roots innovations, knowledge and technologies.

Dr. Awasthi has over 60 research papers and eight books, besides a number of research studies on SMEs and technology entrepreneurship, social entrepreneurship and cluster development, to his credit. Dr. Awasthi has chaired and has been Member of a number of Committees set up by Government of India, and various state governments and several Non-profits.

Dr. Awasthi has also worked as a consultant to several UN agencies like ILO, UNIDO, UNDP, The World bank and other international bodies like WS Atkins, UK and DFID, UK. British Council, The Ford Foundation, SDC, etc. He has extensively travelled across the globe in connection with various professional assignments.

Gavin McGillivrayHead DFID India

Gavin McGillivray took over as head of the UK Department for International Development (DFID)’s office in India in June 2017.

Prior to India, Gavin was head of the DFID Office in Burma / Myanmar from 2013 to 2017. Gavin was previously based in DFID’s London office where he headed DFID’s Private Sector Department, Global Funds & Development Finance Institutions Department and International Financial Institutions Department. From 2003 to 2013, Gavin was responsible for DFID’s oversight of CDC Group plc and PIDG (Private Infrastructure Development Group). He was the UK Director on the

Boards of GAVI (Global Alliance for Vaccines & Immunisation) (2007-09) and UNITAID (2007-10).

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Before joining DFID in 2000, Gavin managed long-term rural development programmes in Bolivia, Honduras, Colombia and the Caribbean.

In the middle of these assignments, he spent 8 years in London with the international corporate finance house Campbell Lutyens, of which he was an Executive Director.

Mr. Avinash BhoiAdditional Commissioner, Raipur Municipal Corporation and General Manager Raipur Smart City Limited

He is working on Raipur Smart City Projects intelligent traffic management system/smart card/smart bins and market redevelopment projects.

Plenary III: Sub-Sectoral Issues: Housing, Basic Amenities including Water, Sanitation, Electricity and Road Transport

Shri Raj Vikas VermaFormer CMD, National Housing Bank & Consultant to the World Bank Group

Former Chairman and Managing Director of the National Housing Bank (NHB), Mr. Raj Vikash Verma has an experience spanning 35 years in the financial sector, as well as more than 25 years in the Housing, Mortgage finance and Real Estate sector. Mr. Verma holds Master’s Degree in Economics from Delhi School of Economics, and MBA in Finance from Faculty of Management Studies, Delhi University, and is a Certified Associate of the Indian Institute of Bankers. He has held a number of prestigious positions in course of his service career. Besides working with the

Reserve Bank of India, and serving as CMD of NHB, Mr Verma has held several leadership positions, viz. MD&CEO and Chairman of the Board at CERSAI and the Central Registrar (both appointed by the Govt of India), Director on the Board (Whole Time Member) and Officiating Chairman at the Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority (PFRDA) (appointed by the Govt of India), Member on the Board of Trustees at the Credit Risk Guarantee Trust Fund for Low Income Housing, and Chairman at the Asia-Pacific Union for Housing Finance (APUHF) (elected by member countries), and former Chairman of the Board of India Mortgage Guarantee Corporation (MGC).

He also served as Member on a number of Committees appointed by the Government of India and Reserve Bank of India, and entrusted with an important role in the formulation of various national level schemes and programmes on affordable and low-income housing. He was invited to speak as Guest Speaker at a number of national and international conferences by various domestic and internat ional agencies and Governments .

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Mr Verma is currently appointed as Consultant to the World Bank Group and is serving as the IFC’s nominee Director on the Board of India Mortgage Guarantee Corporation (IMGC). He is also nominated as a Member on the Advisory Committee of the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Board of India (IBBI), and serving as Director on a number of Boards.

Mr. Pushkar SrivastavaUrban Specialist at Asian Development Bank.

Having attended the CEPT School of Planning earning a M tech in Environmental planning, Mr Pushkar Srivastava has specialized in Environmental Project Management with a focus on poverty alleviation in Asia.

Starting his career in the early 1990s as Station Head at Mott Macdonald, Dehli. Mr Srivastava has in more recent times been in the employment of the Asian Development bank, where he currently holds the position of Urban Specialist. Working on projects such as the Kerala Sustainable Urban Development Project and the Rajasthan Urban Sector Development Investment Program among others.

Smt. Mona KhandarCommissioner of Rural Development and Principal Secretary

Ms. Mona Khandhar, IAS serves as Secretary(EA) of Finance Department at Govt. of Gujarat. Ms. Khandhar has been a Director of Gujarat Urban Development Company Limited since July 25, 2016, and Gujarat Urja Vikas Nigam Limited since March 13, 2017. She served as a Director of Gujarat Mineral Development Corporation Limited since September 10, 2016 until July 15, 2017.

Plenary IV: Financing, Pricing and Loan Servicing in the Context of Infrastructural Investment from within and

Outside the Country

Yoginder K. Alagh Indian economist and former Union Minister of Government of India.

Yoginder K Alagh, is Chancellor of the Central University of Gujarat, Gandhinagar and Vice Chairman of Sardar Patel Institute of Economic and Social Research, Ahmedabad. He was President, Institute of Economy and Development of the Observer Foundation. He was earlier Minister of Power and for Planning & Programme Implementation with additional charge of the Ministry of Science & Technology. He has been Member, Planning Commission (in the rank of Minister of State). He has been Chairman, Bureau of Industrial Costs and Prices, Ministry

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of Industry and Secretary to the Government of India. He holds a Doctoral Degree in Economics from the University of Pennsylvania and Master’s Degree in the same subject from that University and the University of Rajasthan. He has taught Economics at the University of Rajasthan, Indian Institute of Management, Calcutta, University of Jodhpur, Swarthmore College and the University of Pennsylvania.

He has seven books and over a hundred articles to his credit published both at home and abroad.His recent book on The Future of Indian Agriculture has been sold out in paper back. He has travelled widely and represented India in a number of high level official delegations and seminars. He was Member of the Council, United Nations University and also Chairman, Scientific Steering Committee of the International Social Science Programme of UNESCO. He is currently President of the Indian Society of Agricultural Economics. He was President of Gujarat Economic Association, Member, India Council of Social Science Research, President, Indian Econometric Society, and Indian Society of Labour Economics, and on the governing bodies of the International Institute of Labour Studies, Geneva. He has been awarded the VKRV Rao Award in Economics for 1981. He was Vice Chancellor, Jawaharlal Nehru University and was Senior Fellow, World Institute of Development Economic Research, United Nations University, Helsinki. He was the Coordinator for South Asia Technology Network of the Commission of European Communities at Brussels, Vice Chairman, State Planning Commission of Gujarat in the rank of Minister and Special Adviser to the Secretary General of the UN (RIO) Conference on Environment and Development.

He has been Senior Adviser Consultant to FAO, UNFPA, ILO, ESCAP World Bank and UNDP and Visiting Professor at the prestigous Sc.PO of Paris in 1995, Distinguished Fullbright Lecture in the U.S in 1994 and Shastri Lecturer in Canada in 2000. He was a Trustee of the Rajiv Gandhi Foundation, New Delhi,Senier Fellow of CIGI in Canada, Fellow, National Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Delhi and the World Innovation Foundation, He is currently involved in high level meetings on Climate Change.UK. He writes a coloumn for the Indian Express on agriculture and rural development.

Mr. Rajesh AggarwalExecutive Director (Metropolitan Projects/Joint Venture), Railways Board

Prof. Darshini MahadeviaProfessor, Faculty of Planning, CEPT University

Prof. Darshini Mahadevia is Masters in Urban and Regional Planning, from School of Planning and Architecture, New Delhi and PhD from CSRD, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi.

Has been Visiting Scholar at School of Urban Planning, McGill University, Montreal and Graduate School of Architecture and Urban Planning, UCLA; has been Asian Scholarship Foundation fellow at Tsinghua University, Beijing and Tianjin University of Finance and Economics, Tianjin. Had and has research collaboration with McGill University, ISS The Hague and IDS Sussex and with NGOs in India such

as SEWA, Saath. Has delivered lectures on urban issues in India, at various international and national events. Consultant to NGos and UN organizations such as UNDP, IOM. Has 9 books and booklets, 60 articles in journals and books and 22 articles in newspapers to her credit.

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Recent Significant Publications and Projects Mahadevia, Darshini (ed.) (2008): Inside the Transforming Urban Asia - Processes, Policies and Public Actions, Concept, New Delhi. • Mahadevia, Darshini and Jeanne Wolfe (eds) (2008): Solid Waste Management in Indian Cities: Status and Emerging Practices, Concept, New Delhi. • Hirway, Indira and Darshini Mahadevia (2005): Gujarat Human Development Report, 2004, Mahatma Gandhi Labour Institute, Ahmedabad • Mahadevia, Darshini (2003) Globalisation, Urban Reforms and Metropolitan Response: India, Manak Publishers, Delhi • Kundu, Amitabh and Darshini Mahadevia (eds.) (2002), Poverty and Vulnerability in a Globalising Metropolis: Ahmedabad, Manak Publishers, Delhi • Mahadevia, Darshini (2006): “Urban Infrastructure Financing and Delivery in India and China”, China and the World Economy, Volume 14, No. 2, March-April, pp. 105-20. • Mahadevia, Darshini (2007): “Urban Infrastructure Financing and Delivery in China”, Economic and Political Weekly, 42 (11), pp. 964-972. • Mahadevia, Darshini (2001): “Sustainable Urban Development in India: An Inclusive Perspective”, Development in Practice, Vol. 11 (2 & 3), pp. 242-259.

Shri A.B. GorChief Executive Authority, Ahmedabad Urban Development Authority (AUDA)

Valedictory Session

Mr. Arun S NairVisiting Fellow, RIS

Arun S Nair is a Visiting Fellow at the RIS. He has a law and journalism background, and specialises in issues related to international trade, foreign investment and commercial diplomacy. Mr. Nair was an IMF Fellow for the International Monetary Fund’s Journalism Fellowship Program (2014 & 2015) and has covered the IMF and World Bank Annual Meetings. Besides, he was selected to participate in the International Visitor Leadership Program -- the US State Department’s premier professional exchange program -- on ‘US Trade Policy’. As a journalist, he has covered several important events including the World Trade Organisation’s

Doha Round ministerial negotiations -- at Geneva in July 2008, at Nairobi in December 2015 & Buenos Aires in December 2017. Prior to being a journalist, he was a lawyer at the Law Office of Senior Advocate Mr. Mohan Parasaran (former Solicitor General of India) in Chennai (Tamil Nadu). Mr. Nair has practiced at the High Court, District Court, Consumer Court and Debt Recovery Tribunal. He is a graduate in law and bio-sciences, and holds a Post Graduate Diploma in International Trade Law and a Diploma in Corporate Laws and Management. (Ends)

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