A room of builders.

Dr. Sinha has more than 15 years of experience in research and academia. Her expertise extends to Climate Finance, Voluntary Sustainability Standards, Sustainable Finance, and Environmental, Social, and Corporate Governance (ESG). Dr. Sinha is visiting faculty in the Department of Business and Sustainability, TERI SAS. She has been a part of the Energy and Resources Institute (TERI), the Indian Institute of Foreign Trade (IIFT), Centre for Budget and Governance Accountability (CBGA), the Development Alternatives Group (DA). She has a PhD in Sustainable Finance from TERI SAS, New Delhi and a Masters in Economics from University of Calcutta. As a DAAD-German Indian Climate Change Dialogue Fellow, she has presented her research at conferences in Vienna, Berlin and Boston. Her personal interests include reading and gardening.

 Dr. R. S. Sharma is a senior Indian bureaucrat widely recognized for his leadership in India’s digital transformation and the development of public digital infrastructure. Over an illustrious career in public service, he has held several key positions in the Government of India, including Chairman of the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (2015–2020) and CEO of the National Health Authority (2021–2023), where he led the Ayushman Bharat Digital Mission and the CoWIN vaccination platform.

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He also served as Director General and Mission Director of the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI), playing a pivotal role in the rollout of Aadhaar; Secretary, Department of Electronics and Information Technology; and Chief Secretary, Government of Jharkhand.

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Dr. Sharma holds a Ph.D. from IIT Delhi, an M.S. in Computer Science from the University of California, Riverside, and an M.Sc. in Mathematics from IIT Kanpur. His contributions to digital governance, health infrastructure, and administrative innovation have positioned him among India’s foremost digital policy leaders.

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Dr. Shamika Ravi is a leading economist and public policy expert, currently serving as a Member of the Economic Advisory Council to the Prime Minister of India and Secretary to the Government of India. She has previously held senior positions as Director of Research at Brookings India, Vice President of Economic Policy at the Observer Research Foundation, and Non-Resident Senior Fellow at the Brookings Institution in Washington, D.C. Her research spans growth and development economics, with a focus on finance, healthcare, urbanization, gender equality, and poverty alleviation.

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With over two decades of experience as an academic, Dr. Ravi has taught economics and public policy at premier institutions including the Indian School of Business and BITS School of Management. She has published widely in international peer-reviewed journals, writes regular opinion pieces in national dailies in both English and Hindi, and is frequently cited by global and Indian media. Dr. Ravi holds a PhD in Economics from New York University, a Master’s from the Delhi School of Economics, and a B.A. (Hons.) in Economics from Lady Shri Ram College.

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Dr Urvashi Aneja is a leading researcher, policy strategist, and entrepreneur shaping the global conversation on technology and society. She is the Founder and Director of Digital Futures Lab (DFL), one of India’s foremost think tanks focused on the societal impacts of emerging technologies.

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Her work seeks to realign technological innovation with the public interest and promote a more equitable distribution of technology gains. Recognised by MIT Management Review as one of the 50 people shaping India’s digital rise (2025) and by TechCrunch as one of the influential women shaping AI globally (2024), Urvashi is a trusted advisor to governments, international organisations, and industry on digital and AI policy.

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Her research and commentary have been featured in The Financial Times, MIT Technology Review, Al Jazeera, BBC, Reuters, and The Economic Times, among others. She holds an MPhil and a PhD in Politics and International Relations from the University of Oxford.

Erica Arya is the CEO of Project Tech4Dev, an ecosystem collaborative working to transform how non-profits in the Global South use technology and data to scale their impact. With over two decades of experience across product management, engineering, and digital transformation, she has worked with organisations like BBC Media Action and Digital Green in the social sector to build scalable tech solutions leveraging IVR, WhatsApp, chatbots, and mobile apps. At the intersection of design, technology, and social impact, Erica creates sustainable, human-centric solutions.

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Gaurav Goel is an impact entrepreneur and the Founder & CEO of Samagra, a mission-driven governance consulting firm.He holds an MBA from IIM Calcutta and a dual degree in Computer Science & Engineering from IIT Delhi. Prior to Samagra, he was a Management Consultant with McKinsey & Co.Gaurav set up the firm in 2012 with a mission to improve the quality of life of citizens through better governance. Over the last 13 years, the impact of Samagra’s work has been felt by 50 million Indians across states.

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A one-of-a-kind firm, Samagra works exclusively with governments to transform governance. This involves working with the senior political and bureaucratic leadership of states and the Centre on deep systemic reforms, leveraging tech & data, to strengthen the state’s capacity to deliver sustainable outcomes at scale across domains like education, agriculture, skilling, employment, health and public service delivery among others. Under SamagraX, the GovTech and DataGov vertical of Samagra, the firm is leveraging the latest technology & data advancements like AI for solving on-ground use cases in governance.

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With a dynamic team of committed professionals, Samagra is a unique Indian story of entrepreneurship aimed at creating impact at scale. Through Samagra, Gaurav has introduced an ‘impact-first’ approach to governance consulting, maximising impact for the citizens with the government as the thought-partner.

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Gaurav is the Chief Growth Officer at EkStep Foundation where he has been instrumental in working with the government to scale DIKSHA, world's largest government backed school education platform & India's first DPI in education. He is now leading the effort on ONEST - the Open Networks for Employment & Skilling Transformation, UBI - Unified Benefits Interface and a bunch of engagements with different stakeholders leveraging the power of AI & DPI. 

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Gaurav is passionate about solving large scale societal problems leveraging technology. He is a business leader and an ecosystem & growth architect with more than 24 years of cross-functional experience across several industries and geographies. A start-up guy, Gaurav has played a significant role in the growth journey of many start-ups and new initiatives of large organizations. Gaurav is an alumnus of XLRI-Jamshedpur and IIT-Roorkee and has held leadership positions at Flipkart, Accenture Management Consulting & Marketics (India’s pioneering analytics company).

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Dr. Gayathri built Sambhav Foundation with a vision to enable livelihoods and enhance the quality of life of vulnerable communities through Education, Employability, and Entrepreneurship. Her mission is to touch millions of lives, empowering youth, men, and women to earn a decent living and become micro-entrepreneurs.

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She has been extensively involved in policy issues and community mobilizations relating to labour and livelihoods, leading to recognition and accolades across the globe. Gayathri was cited as one of the Top 50 Women in Business by Business Today in 2017 and recognized as Entrepreneur of the Year (Social Business Category) by Forbes India in 2018. She is also a recipient of NITI Aayog's Women Transforming India Award (2021) and has been a TED speaker several times. Between 1999 and 2007, Gayathri worked for the International Labour Organization (ILO), a United Nations agency. She holds a Doctorate in Development Studies and has authored 30 publications in the areas of labour, employment, and gender issues.

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Geeta Gurnani is a distinguished leader in the technology industry, boasting a 25+ year career of which 22 years in IBM that spans various domains, from technical pre-sales to leadership roles in business strategy and development with Telecom being her primary industry.She currently serves as the Chief Technology Officer and Technical Pre-Sales Country head at IBM Technology for India and South Asia.Prior to this, she served as Country Head for Modern Work at Microsoft India.Besides her professional accomplishments, Gurnani is dedicated to women’s empowerment, acting as a mentor at “Aspire For Her” startup in India.

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As the Managing Director & Chief Policy Officer, Harish leads Cisco’s strategic engagement with National and State Governments of India on wide range of public policy issues that concerns Cisco in India - as an investor, globalization hub, business unit and as a corporate citizen. Harish leads Corporate Social Responsibility efforts at Cisco India in his capacity as the executive sponsor and Board member, operating at the intersection of India’s societal needs and Cisco’s domain expertise. Harish is based in New Delhi, India and is with Cisco since May 2007. 

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An industry veteran of more than 30 years, Harish actively participates in public policy forums in India. He is a member of the Governing Council of MAIT; he was also the Vice president of MAIT for 5 years, Chairman of Corporate Social Responsibility committee of American Chamber of Commerce in India (AMCHAM), a member of CII’s National Committee on Telecom and member of US India Strategic Partnership Forum’s India Advisory Board. He is also the co-founder of Public Affairs Forum of India (PAFI). 

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From 2003 to 2007, Harish was an Executive in the Governmental Program function of IBM specially focused providing leadership to IBM’s policy engagement with the Government of India on Innovation, Global Resourcing & HR issues. 

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Prior to joining IBM, Harish worked for over 11 years with the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) – India’s Premier Industry organization in a variety of roles. In his last role as CII’s Director for Information Technology, Harish worked with top CEOs of corporate India on issues affecting the IT& BPO industry.

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Hemant Singh is the Co-founder and CEO of Agrichikitsa (Freshnic Agribusiness Pvt. Ltd.), an Agri-Tech startup pioneering climate-smart, technology-driven solutions for sustainable farming, rural livelihoods, and carbon credit generation. His work integrates AI, IoT, and satellite-based precision agriculture to empower farmers with data-driven insights for pest management, disease prediction, and resource optimization.

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An alumnus of the Cisco–Nasscom Foundation’s thingQbator program, Hemant has been recognized for his contribution to advancing digital agriculture, rural innovation, and sustainability. Through Agrichikitsa, he continues to build bridges between grassroots innovation and systemic change, contributing to the vision of a Viksit Bharat@2047.

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Ian heads Responsible Business for BT Group in India, leading the company’s manifesto objectives to accelerate social impact through technology and digital skills in partnership with the British Asian Trust.

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 Originally from the UK and settled in India, Ian has worked with various organisations focussed on skill development and gender equity; training in government schools and later leading strategic partnerships, program design and management.

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