He possesses extensive experience in policy formulation and effective implementation, demonstrating exceptional negotiation skills in addressing strategic issues at both national and international levels. Throughout a distinguished 37-year career in the Government of India, he held various crucial roles, yielding expertise in goal achievement, problem-solving, and efficient governance. Notable achievements include the formulation of a transformative Water Policy aimed at sustainable water development, the resolution of international disputes with Bangladesh and Pakistan, and the successful resolution of interstate conflicts. Mr. Singh also played a pivotal role in the Commonwealth Games' successful completion, earning a letter of appreciation from the Prime Minister. Additionally, he contributed to the 2nd Administrative Reforms Commission's recommendations and their implementation. As Joint Secretary, he orchestrated a turnaround plan for the Steel Authority of India Limited, leading it to profitability. His tenure as Director in the Ministry of Mines marked key amendments to the National Mineral Policy and Mines & Minerals Development Regulation Act. Mr. Singh's academic excellence, including a gold medal in Chemistry, underpins his professional achievements. He also served as Editor-in-Chief of "Management in Government" and represented the International Institute of Public Administration for three years. A passionate sports enthusiast, he has excelled in tennis, swimming, golf, and horse riding, exemplifying a multifaceted, accomplished career.

He has served continuously for more than 39 Years in varied assignments of the Government of India and the State Government of Himachal Pradesh. His nearly four decades of hands-on experience includes diverse sectors such as Finance, Planning, Disinvestment and Privatization, Banking and Institutional Finance, Defence, Energy, Commerce, Industries, Public Sector Corporations, Health, Education, Agriculture, Cooperatives, Training, Social Welfare & Women Empowerment.

He formally retired as Secretary to the Government of India, Department of Economic Affairs, Ministry of Finance. His final tenure (2017-2020) as Secretary of the 15th Finance Commission of India (a Constitutional post appointment) gave him a unique work opportunity at the nerve centre of India’s Public Finances and Federal Finance issues. This deep domain experience (along with a Commerce Ministry and Niti Aayog stint) serves as a springboard for him to critically appraise the multiple economic issues which are faced by India.

He has served at the Director/Joint Secretary level in the Government of India in the Defence and Disinvestment Ministries, Planning Commission and Prime Minister’s Office (PMO). His longest, seven years continuous posting, has been as the Joint Secretary/Additional Secretary in the Ministry of Commerce – between October 2009 till October 2016. He was India’s lead Trade negotiator for all neighboring South Asian (SAARC) countries, including Bangladesh, Pakistan, Nepal, Sri Lanka, and Iran, from 2009-2014. Besides the SAFTA (South Asia Free Trade Agreement) negotiations, he was India’s Chief Negotiator for RCEP (Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership) Trade negotiations for the years 2014-2016. He was also simultaneously, India’s Chief Negotiator for the bilateral Free Trade Agreements with Australia and New Zealand. As ‘Trade Policy Division’ (TPD) chief, Arvind has been India’s Multilateral Trade Agreements negotiator and has shaped India’s Trade Policy in the WTO (World Trade Organization) and India-EU FTA (European Union Free Trade Agreement).

In the Commerce Ministry, he also coordinated all export promotion schemes of the Government. He worked closely with all Apex Chambers of Commerce, such as FICCI, CII, PHD Chamber, etc., on specific industries/exports issues. Additionally, Arvind has worked closely on Healthcare Services exports and Project exports (BHEL, AFCON, GAMMONS, L&T, ESSAR STEEL, SAIL, IRCON, POWERGRID, etc.), for structuring country-specific export strategies and financial support through EXIM BANK and insurance support of ECGC. He specifically devised financial products to support India’s Project exports.

In Himachal Pradesh, he has been responsible for formulating more than ten Budgets of the State Government (including some as Finance Secretary) between 1990 and 2009. These opportunities have provided him with deep domain knowledge across all sovereign functions, including the interplay between State and Central Government schemes/infrastructure projects.

Arvind has an abiding interest in the evolving challenges between poverty and water security in the context of climate change, energy security and affordability. He used his experience – as a Distinguished Fellow (2021-2022) in NITI Aayog – to sharpen policy responses in various economic policy areas.

In June 2022, the Government of India appointed Arvind for three years till June 2025 as Chairman (part-time) of the Himachal Pradesh State Environment Impact Assessment Authority – a responsibility for balancing environmental concerns in the ongoing developmental processes.

Based upon his varied work experience as well as his stint as Distinguished Fellow at NITI Aayog, Arvind takes guest faculty lectures for Government officers at various training institutes such as National Academy of Customs, Indirect Taxes & Narcotics for Indian Revenue Service officers, National Academy for Audit and Accounts for Indian Audit and Accounts Service officers, Himachal Institute for Public Administration for Administrative Service officers, National Defence College for Armed Forces officers.

He has co-authored a book, “Reflections on India’s Public Policies,” which has been recently published in May, 2023. This book contains his detailed thoughts on ‘unfinished tasks’ of Public Finance, pertaining to issues such as Finance Commissions, job creation strategies, climate change and water security issues, Free Trade Agreements, specific health and tourism policies, additional revenue generation by the Government, etc.

Arvind Mehta is an alumnus of St. Xavier’s School Delhi (1966-1979), St. Stephen’s College (1979-1982) with a First Division in BA (Economics Honours). He topped the Delhi School of Economics (DSE) entrance/scholarship exam and was awarded the academic merit scholarship in DSE. After completing his Masters in Economics in 1984, he was selected through competitive exams and interviews by the UPSC (Union Public Service Commission) in 1984 itself; for both the Indian Economics Service (all India merit rank of 3) and also for the Indian Administrative Service with an all-India rank of 27. During the course of his career, he has done short training courses at Harvard University, IIMs, etc.

He has been his school Sports captain, with the distinction of being selected to represent Delhi State teams several times for both the Swimming and Basketball National games. Based upon his performance for the Delhi State team in the Basketball Nationals Championship held in Dharamshala (Himachal) in 1976, he was also selected for the Indian Schoolboys Basketball team. Besides his interest in other sports, such as Tennis, Badminton and Table Tennis, Arvind has had an abiding interest in Chess since childhood. At LBSNAA (Lal Bahadur National Academy of Administration), he was the Chess Champion for the IAS and other Civil Services batch of 1984. All his extracurricular activities have contributed towards helping him become a dedicated team player – both at work and in off-work activities.

V Kalyana Rama is a logistic expert with more than 40 years of experience. He is an engineer with a financial background, having a dual degree in B.Tech and ICWA. He is an Indian Railway Traffic Service Officer of 1987 batch. Got rich experience in the movement of coal, cement, iron ore, and finished steel products movement on the Railway system. Undergone training for one year in advanced freight logistics with containerization in Germany in 1999. Worked in the container industry for 21 years with CONCOR. He is the youngest Chairman and MD of CONCOR from 2016 - 2023.

He is instrumental in transforming the company to 99% digitized. Increased turnover by 50%, net worth by 60%, and gross block by 100%. During his tenure, CONCOR volumes increased from 2.8Mn TEUs to 4.4Mn TEUs. Introduced First mile, last mile logistics, and business solution services for complete customer logistics solutions. Also introduced LNG trucks for echo-friendly movement. 

His expertise is in logistics solutions, design-construction and commissioning of MMLPs (multi-modal logistics parks) sectoral analysis for supply chain solutions and reduction of logistics costs.

Group Captain (Dr) RD Sharma (Retd) has 28 years rich experience in Indian Air Force, managing the entire gamut of Aviation and Aerospace for Planning/ Project Management/ Administration with demonstrated leadership qualities. A top planner and an idea conceiver/ generator, with capability of futuristic thinking and analysis. An outstanding record of achievements in aviation/ infrastructure/surveillance/ ground support systems/ administration of IAF.

A dynamic professional he is presently working as a consultant.  He has great passion for corporate training, learning and development and illiteracy abolition. GP Capt. RD Sharma retd is a BE MBA MTech PhD. He has developed his own Copyright program called Re engineering the Mind, making learning easy.

He has a work experience of over 40 years in government and corporate sectors in India. During his tenure Ministry of Finance in early 1990s, most notable were: formulation of SEBI bill, and policies on development of mutual funds. He had the longest tenure of close to 20 continuous years from 1998 to 2017 in ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas Regulatory Board (PNGRB). He has deep first-hand knowledge in a wide spectrum of policies in oil and gas sector, ranging from pricing, trade, project analysis, authorization of City gas distribution and gas pipelines. He signed off as Member of PNGRB in August 2017. 

A defence production expert. He joined the Defence Production sector in 1986 as an Indian Ordnance Factories Service Officer (IOFS-manages Arms & Ammo manufacturing units of the Ordnance Factory Board-OFB). While in the Defence Production and Defence Sector he has worked in the Field Levels (manufacture of Arms & Ammunition) as well at Higher Echelons of Policy Formulation & Implementation.

In the Ordnance Factories (1986-2001) he worked in Manufacturing Plants of Artillery Guns and Artillery Shells besides Armed Forces Special Vehicles (Trucks, SUVs etc.). As Joint General Manager of Plant contributed substantially in indigenizing 155 mm shells (1999-2000) thus developing domestic capability for same in the Country at the critical juncture of Kargil Operations. Was awarded the Best Production Manager award for same. Further handled Reconditioning and Retrofitting of complex Plant & Machinery for making Defence Equipment, thus saving lot of funds. 

As Director in the Ministry of Defence (2001-2004) he dealt with Capital Procurements (Acquisition) for Army, Tri Services issues, Cyber Security Policies, Union War Book, Training Institutions of Army (IMA, NDA, DSSC, Sainik Schools etc.) and other Areas. In 2001-02 he coordinated Ops Parakram (mobilization of Armed Forces to Western Borders) at MoD level. He had engaged with Pentagon in 2002 to conceptualize Indo US Cyber Security Cooperation and developed a roadmap for same. For first time in Ministry of Defence he conceptualized, formulated and issued delegation of Financial Powers in Capital Procurement to Armed Forces Headquarters. thus, commencing the process of financial empowerment of Armed Forces. In Capital Procurements he chaired more than 10 Contract Negotiations within his delegated Powers besides was part of higher Teams Negotiating major Defence Acquisitions.

He was the Private Secretary and Chief of Staff to the then Minister of Defence Officer, in the period (2004-2006) wherein had the opportunity to get a bird’s eye view of the entire defence and strategy sector at the highest level and was able to contribute to policy making and their monitoring and implementation. Participated in some of the major initiatives like New Framework for Indo US Defence Cooperation, Cooperation with Germany & France in Defence Sector (including Defence Production), Latin America. Participated in first revision of Defence Procurement Procedure in 2005, besides incorporating Defence Offsets, and Integrity Clause.

He was Officer on Special Duty to assist the External Affairs Minister in the period 2006-2009 and later the Finance Minister (2009-2012). - Assisted the Hon Minister on Inter-ministerial issues with focus on Defence Sector. Also assisted in matters of Group of Ministers (GOMs). 

Was Private Secretary (Chief of Staff in Personal Office) to the President of India (2012-2015) in the Joint Secretary rank. Dealt with issues of Governors, Parliament, Judiciary, Ceremonial, Armed Forces etc. The President is the Supreme Commander of the Armed Forces therefore had dealt with the issues concerning same and closely observed the functioning of Supreme Commander which is a unique learning as far as the Defence domain is concerned.

As Joint Secretary Border Management (BM) (2015-2018) in Min of Home Affairs (MHA) dealt with Land & Coastal Border- Policies, Operations, Surveillance, Infrastructure, Development and infusion of Technology aspects. Was instrumental in conceptualizing and implementation of Pilot Project of Comprehensive Integrated Border Management System (CIBMS) on Pak Border in Jammu and Dhubri Assam, it is a Smart Fence with sensors, cameras etc. along with Command & Control system. Also initiated projects of ‘Holistic Development of Islands’ and ‘Induction of Space Tech. in Border Management’ which have been a sort of force multiplier for BM. Participated as Key Functionary in Border talks with China, Nepal, Bhutan, Bangladesh and Myanmar which were strategic level engagements.

As Senior Deputy Director General (AS level), Marketing of the OFB (2019-2020) dealt with Defence Exports and supply of Arms and Ammo to all Police Forces in the country.

Founder of Think Tank ‘Security And Policy Initiatives’(SAPI) working for absorption of Defence Transfer of Tech, Improvement of Border Management. 

Former Secretary at the Ministry of Steel, GOI; Former Chairman and Managing Director of Bharat Broadband Network Limited (BBNL)

As a civil servant, with experience of more than 3 decades, at the apex level in the Federal Government and State Government, has equipped me to analyse and think strategically, focusing on the big picture, while being mindful of the implementation challenges. 

I worked as Secretary in various Departments/ Organisations of Government of India from 2019-2022 and made notable contributions. As Secretary at the Ministry of Steel, GOI, I worked towards formulation and implementation of long term and medium-term vision of the sector, which focused on reducing carbon footprint, making steel sector more competitive, towards making the nation self-sufficient mainly in specialty steel and other future requirements.

In addition, my major effort included providing impetus to working towards production of green steel & specialty steel, integration of Industry 4.0 & higher-level technologies to enhance efficiency & safety in steel sector & mining for steel sector, as well as efficient utilization of resources. Since medium and small enterprises of Steel sector contribute significantly large portion of steel production in the country and provide proportionately higher employment, intensive efforts were made towards making them efficient, sustainable and migrate towards environment friendly steel making. Another area that was focused was transition to circular economy in steel making, accordingly not only medium- and long-term plan was formulated, but work was also initiated towards reducing wastage and utilizing the waste & by products for steel making.

P.K.Pujari, a career civil servant and IAS officer has been Secretary to Government of India, Ministry of Power. He has also been the Chairman of the Central Electricity Regulatory Commission (CERC) for five years till 2022. He has handled important assignments in finance and taxation besides energy and power.

As Secretary, Ministry of Power, he initiated and concluded several far-reaching initiatives and policy changes. These include "UDAY" for sustainable operational and financial turnaround of discoms, new coal linkage policy for power plants, new hydro-power policy, policy for integration of renewable energy into the grid and guidelines for cross border trade of power with neighboring countries. He was closely associated with the signing of the International Solar Alliance Framework Agreement during COP22 in Marrakech. He led the Indian delegation for the 2nd BRICS Energy Ministerial Summit and for the 8th Clean Energy Ministerial (CEM) Summit at Beijing. During his tenure as the Chairman of the Central Electricity Regulatory Commission, the Real Time Market and Term Ahead Market, Ancillary Services Market were introduced. Several reformative Regulations such as Power Market Regulations, General Network Access Regulations, Transmission Charges Sharing Regulations, Grid Code, Ancillary Services Regulations, Deviation Settlement Regulations and Renewable Energy Certificate Regulations were notified.

Rakesh Maheshwari has worked for more than 35 years in Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY). His last posting was as Sr. Director and Group Coordinator, Cyber Law and Data Governance. 

During his tenure in the Ministry, he handled activities related to Information Technology (IT) Act, Personal Data Protection Bill, Social media regulation, Cyber Security policies, Aadhaar Act in various capacities including as Group Coordinator (GC) Cyber Law, GC Cyber Security, GC for CERT-In, GC for UIDAI. He has been the “Designated Officer”, for more the 4.5 years, as mandated under law, for blocking under section 69A of IT Act. With MeitY being the custodian of IT Act, he has been instrumental in development of the IT (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rule, 2021 and its amendments in October 2022 and April 2023 bringing in a variety of Intermediary regulations, social media regulations, Online gaming regulations and setting up of an Online grievance Appellate Committee (gac.gov.in).  Involved in MeitY’s efforts on work related to Amendment of IT Act/ proposed new Digital India Act. Have participated in multiple meetings convened by various Parliamentary Standing Committees over the years. He has worked for online Safety particularly for Women and Children safety and has been instrumental for the launch of National Cyber Crime portal; MoU with NCMEC, USA and co-ordination with MHA/CBI etc.

He has handled over 400 court cases at all levels representing Govt interests including about 50 cases in Supreme Court and 300 cases in various High Courts across India. These include various online illegalities in Cyber Space, Data Privacy issues, right to be forgotten, social media regulation, online gaming and gambling, curbing pornography, Child Sexual Abuse material etc.  In addition, he has also dealt with very large number of cases of violations of Copyrights, Trademarks and online Piracy and domain name disputes. He has also been involved in the personal data protection Bill along with Sri Krishna Committee and have been involved in many of the JPC discussions after the bill was presented in the parliament in 2019 end.  He has also worked on the latest DPDP Bill.  He is involved in working with BIS on development of standards in Security and Privacy related matters. As a long career of 28 years in STQC directorate, MeitY, he carried out various activities in related to Software Process Improvement (SW-CMM Trainer), quality Management (Certified Quality Engineer and trainer), Information Security management (ISMS Lead Auditor for ISO 27001 and trainer), IT and IT enabled Service management (ISO 20000) and Process improvement relate activities. He has more than 1000-man days of training and auditing experience. He has been a Guest faculty/ panel Speaker in LBSNA Mussorie, SVPNPA, Hyderabad, Delhi Judicial Academy, Indian Law Institute (ILI), UNODC, Indian Institute of Public Administration (IIPA), and other Institutions and conferences. Post retirement, he has been working on the advisory Board of NIXI, India, India Future Foundation, Cyber Peace Foundation and on and many Project review Committees of MeitY and other Govt organizations.  

He is a career civil servant, who joined Indian Administrative Service in 1984 and rose to the highest level of Secretary to the Government of India heading the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy in the year 2017 till 2020. He has held many significant assignments in the Government of Kerala and in Government of India. He has built expertise in the renewable energy and housing regulation sectors.

He is currently the Chairman of the Real Estate Regulatory Authority of Delhi.

Achievements in the Renewable Energy Sector:

→ Enhanced total renewable energy capacity (installed, under installation or under bidding) from 60 GW in 2017 to 155 GW in April, 2020 (with 88 GW installed, 35 GW under various stages of installation and 33 GW under various stages of bidding)

→ For the first time, under his leadership Renewable Ministry forecasted power demand of 500 GW upto 2030 and gave trajectory for bidding & creation of new capacity till that year

→ Planned linking the potential solar and wind areas with main transmission lines.

→ Prepared a road map to augment existing and add new transmission capacity of 66.5 GW to evacuate planned 175 GW of renewable power by the year 2022.

→ Designed and implemented various short/medium/long term policies, programs and strategies for enhancing deployment and integration of renewable energy (solar, wind, bio and hydro).

→ Planned for financial closure and implementation of Renewable Energy projects, assess tariffs considering associated risks, renewable energy auction bids and evaluated existing energy assets and power purchase agreements.

→ Planned exploitation of potential of offshore wind & creation of new testing facilities for offshore wind turbines.

→ Designed new Renewable Energy products like hybrid Renewable Energy (solar & wind) power, Renewable Energy peaking power, round the clock Renewable Energy power were developed and bid out. India became the first and largest bidder of Renewable Energy peaking and round the clock Renewable Energy power in the world.

→ Implemented international standards in the wind sector and created Dispute Resolution Committee.

→ Prepared and published through National Institute of Wind Energy, solar - wind potential atlas after assessing the solar and wind potential of various geographical regions in the country. New sites for putting solar and wind power projects both on-shore and off-shore, like Ladakh, Khavada, Tuticorin, Lakshadweep were identified.

→ Shared best practices and technologies for reducing cost of solar and wind projects on various international platforms like G-20, IRENA, IEA.

International Acclaims for achievements in Renewable Energy sector:

→ UN Secretary General appreciated publicly India’s policy to continue with Renewable Energy (including solar) Bids during COVID-19 time.

→ India became first country to design and finalise large bids for Peaking Renewable Energy (with solar and wind) Power, Round the Clock (Renewable Energy with storage) Power.

→ Planned and finalised proposal for opening Renewable Energy Exchange.

→ Conceptualised implementation of ‘One Sun, One Grid, One World’ initiative.

Sachin Bhanushali is a renowned infrastructure and logistics professional with over 30 years of experience in bulk, break-bulk transportation of steel, cement, coal and general cargo and intermodal logistics for International and Domestic Trade. 

Sachin has worked with Government of India as a career civil servant from 1991 to 2006. He co-founded Gateway Rail Freight Ltd in 2006, after a successful career of over 15 years with Indian Railways (Government of India), during which he worked with CONCOR on deputation for 5 years. He is the architect of Gateway Rail brand in intermodal logistics sector in India. He was the CEO of Gateway Rail Freight Ltd (now called Gateway Distriparks Ltd) until 31-10-2022. He holds a Master's degree in Commerce and Business Economics. 

He currently practices as an independent advisor with expertise in the areas of rail-road-port infrastructure and transportation, intermodal (road-rail-road) logistics and public policy for the infrastructure and transportation sectors. 

Sachin was a member of the Working Group on Railways Sector for the Formulation of the Twelfth Five Year Plan (2012-17). He has been the Secretary General of the Association of Container Train Operator (ACTO) and a member of Services Export Promotion Council (SEPC) set up by Ministry of Commerce and Industry. He was the Chairman of the ‘National Committee on Railways’ of Confederation of Indian Industries and is currently the member of National Railways Committee and EXIM Committee of Confederation of Indian Industries (CII) and Logistics Committee of Federation of Indian Chamber of Commerce and Industries (FICCI).

Former Chairman of the Competition Commission of India (2009-11) which he founded. He is currently the Founder Chairman of Competition Advisory Services (I) LLP, a strategic consultancy firm in Competition Law and investment Policies, providing strategic policy advocacy and regulatory assistance in the entry and roll out of new enterprises. He is frequently invited on global lecture circuit to deliver talks on investment in India. He writes columns frequently on contemporary issues, including articles/Op-eds on FDI, Regulations and competition, published regularly in national dailies.

He joined IAS (Indian Administrative Service, India’s premier federal govt service) in 1968, has served the Government at Centre and Haryana State in various senior positions. At Central level, he was Secretary to Government in several key Ministries, including Defense Production, Road Transport and Highways, and Culture and Additional Secretary in Ministry of Telecom (1998-2002), when migration policy and telecom revolution happened.

He also headed Indian Investment Centre, London (1983-86), as its Resident Director, under the Ministry of Finance, to promote investments and JVs into India from UK and Europe.

He served as India’s Executive Director (2005-09) on the Board of World Bank/IFC, Washington DC representing India, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh & Bhutan. 

An IAS Officer of Haryana Cadre, he worked as Principal Secretary to Chief Minister Haryana (1991-96) and undertook development of industrial infrastructure around Delhi, including Udyog Vihar and Manesar.

Pankaj Batra is the Project Director, South Asia Regional Initiative in Energy Integration & Ex-Chairperson Central Electricity Authority of India. He has over 35 years’ experience in all aspects of the power sector in India with about 4 years’ experience of the power sector in South Asia. He is currently Project Director & Chief of Party, USAID’s SARI/EI (South Asia Regional Initiative in Energy Integration) program. 

His expertise is in setting Policy and Regulatory, Standards in the Power Sector in India. He is also an expert in Power sector Reforms. Energy Transition, including sector efficiency, transition to Renewables, Electric Vehicles, Smart Grid. Demand forecasting, Generation Planning, Grid management, Standard Bidding Documents. Operation & Maintenance of hydro power plants. He has strong experience as a System Operator in SAARC and BIMSTEC countries and all aspects of Cross border trade in electricity in the BBINS (Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Nepal and Sri Lanka) countries, including harmonization of policies and regulations, advancing transmission interconnections and creation of regional power markets. He has also handled proposals of funding of transmission interconnections, fixing of tariff and philosophy of sharing of transmission charges of interconnectors.

As Project Director & Chief of Party, USAID’s SARI/EI (South Asia

Regional Initiative in Energy Integration) program being implemented by IRADe (Integrated Research and Action for Development), a reputed think tank in India, he is dealing in Energy & Power Systems, Climate Change and Environment,

Sustainable Development, Poverty Alleviation and Gender, Agriculture and Food Security, etc.

As Chairperson and CEO of the Central Electricity Authority (CEA), the technical arm of the Ministry of Power, Govt. of India he was responsible for overall development of the Indian power system including Hydro, Thermal and Renewable Power as well as the Transmission & Distribution System of the country.

As Member (Planning) and ex-officio Additional Secretary to the Government of India he oversaw various policy and planning functions, including Electric Power Survey Report on long term demand forecasting, National Electricity Plan on generation planning, coal and gas supply to power stations, renewable sources of energy, etc.

As Chief (Engineering) in Central Electricity Regulatory Commission (CERC) he formulated various technical and tariff Regulations, including various provisions related to wind and solar power in the revised Indian Electricity Grid Code, Connectivity Regulations, Power Market Regulations, etc.

As Director, Grid Management in the CEA Headquarters, he framed the regulations of CEA on Technical Standards for Connectivity to the Grid and regulations on Grid Standards. Started the Division on Regulatory Affairs in CEA.

He has held other important positions such as Member Secretary of the Government Task Force on Peaking Power Plants and Creation of Adequate System Reserves, Member Secretary of the Government Task Force on Integration of electricity from Renewable Energy sources in the Grid, Member of the Committee of Ministry of Power for formulation of Model Smart Grid Regulations. He has been actively involved in the finalization of the Tariff Policy with the Minister of Power, Secretary, Power and other officers of the Ministry of Power, Government of India. He has been Member Secretary of the Committee formulated by the Ministry of Power on revision of the National Electricity Policy. He has been Chairperson of the Technical Committee On Study of Optimal Location of Various Types of Balancing Energy Sources/Energy Storage Devices to Facilitate Grid Integration of Renewable Energy Sources and Associated Issues. He has also been Chairperson of the Committee on preparing an approach paper for charging of electric vehicles including the facility, institutional arrangement and identification of regulatory interventions, if any.

He is currently the Chairperson of Working Group 4 on “Policy, Regulation and Business Models” in the India Smart Grid Forum, Chairperson of the BIS Committee of LITD 10 – “Power System Control and Associated Communication”, Chairperson of the BIS Committee for making technical Standards on Grid Scale Storage. He has finalized a number of standards, including the first ever global standard on Battery Management System.

He has been: 

→ Member of the Core Group of India Energy Transformation Platform (IETP), conceptualized by the Center for Study of Science, Technology and Policy (CSTEP) & Shakti Sustainable Energy Foundation (SSEF).

→ Member of the expert group of Niti Aayog for Energy Sector Vision Document.

→ Member of the Consultative Group of Niti Aayog to discuss Decarbonization Strategy for Indian Economy

→ President, International Association on Electricity Generation, Transmission and Distribution (Afro-Asian Region)

→ Member of the Advisory Board of Central Board of Irrigation and Power (CBIP), and various other Advisory Boards.

→ Member of the Task Force on Principles of Interconnectors under the Green Grids Initiative co-chaired by the Prime Ministers of India and UK.

→ Independent Director in the West Bengal State Electricity Distribution Company Ltd.

Neeraj K. Gupta is an accomplished and experienced IAS officer (1982 Batch, UP Cadre). He retired in April 2018 as Secretary, Ministry of Finance (Department of Investment & Public Asset Management, Government of India) and was reappointed as Central Information Commissioner till April 18th, 2023. 

As Secretary, Ministry of Finance, he has been the member of the core team of the Government for preparation of three Union Budgets (2016, 2017, and 2018). He has also been the Chairman of the National Task Force for Promotion of Digital & Cashless Economy from March 2016 until retirement. 

As Secretary, DIPAM he was responsible for efficient management of Government investments in all Central Public Sector Enterprises, and in that role, had extensive interaction with domestic and foreign investors for their access to Indian capital market, regulators (SEBI and RBI) for rationalizing the policies for listing of companies and divestment of equity though various market instruments, framework for mergers and consolidation, creation of equity and debt ETFs, functioning of stock markets etc.

 He successfully managed disinvestment of Government equity through various capital market instruments including new ETF products e.g. Bharat 22 ETF, listing of 9 companies (after a gap of over five years) in various sectors including Insurance and Defense, mergers & acquisitions within central public sector space, generating over a lac of crore during 2017-18. 

He is a Bachelor of Engineering from IIT Roorkee (1979) with an exceptionally bright academic record. 

He is widely travelled and has interacted with world leaders and industry captains in India and abroad at several investor summits e.g. St. Petersburg International Economic Forum, JETCO & India UK CEOs Forum, India Russia Business Forum etc. and has lead several Indian delegations to various European and CIS countries.

Col Kevin A Desouza is an established policy researcher with hands on experience in the defence electronics manufacturing industry. With a deep understanding of transfers of defence technology to Indian firms and agencies. He is the Co-creator of Defence Tech India. He has collaborated with IDSA, ORF, SAPI, Takshashila Institution and other thinktanks to co-create a futuristic working strategy for the Indian defence industry. When in the Indian Army he was the Regional Head of Weapon Resources. He has been a Research Fellow at the IDSA, where he has researched Transfer of Foreign Defence Technology to Indian agencies. In the Bharat Electronics Ltd he has been the Head, Maintainability Advisory Group. He has headed a team for evaluation, value addition and quality assurance of engineering support packages to radar and radio equipment. Conducted trials on new systems offered for acceptance. Successfully identified, evaluated and guided introduction of world class electronics module /card testing automated test equipment.

He has also headed a team tasked with forecasting, planning, evaluation of and monitoring delivery of maintenance support packages of equipment systems supplied by Bharat Electronics for Enterprise-wide service network of over 450 service centres. Also evaluated reliability and maintainability parameters of these equipment systems. Carried out detailed trials in maintainability for Radio sets/systems, mobile air defence systems covering multiple disciplines from radars, communication to automotive. Evaluated a wide range of diagnostic and rework systems for electronics hardware in a 6-month period.

As General Manager Production and Works in the Army Base Repair Depot, as GM Production he has headed a team of 10 middle managers and 500 technicians to achieve targets of maintenance repair and overhaul (MRO) of a wide range of mechanical, electrical and electronic equipment. Achieved RO targets of 30 Field guns in a record 45 days through detailed planning, organizing and leadership. As GM Works with annual budget of INR 1.5 Crore, he has forecasted, planned and monitored achievement of work targets. He has spearheaded the re-implementation of ISO 9001-2000 with fresh objectives in a 3-month period. Planned, purchased and established a specialist overhaul/ repair facility and a new fabrication line for special role vehicles in a 6-month period.

Dr Deepak Kumar Hota is the former Chairman and Managing Director of BEML where he has been on the Board for over seven years. He has built expertise in the defence production sector.

He built the BEML brand and aggressively pursued the “Make in India” policy with a record order book comprising of over 75% orders on competitive mode. This was while competing against world class MNCs. Prestigious orders include the Mumbai Metro driverless trains, 200 Ton Electro drive Dump trucks etc.

He engaged McKinsey to identify growth opportunities within and outside India to fulfill “Atma Nirbhar Bharat” mandate.

He has won various awards and accolades of which a few are:

→ The Machinist Hall of Fame Award

→ XLRI Distinguished Alumnus Award

→ Top Challengers Award at Construction World Global Awards

→ NHRD Award for Most Seasoned HR Professional of the year

→ Honorary Degree of PhD by Manav Rachna Educational Institutions (MREI)

→ Elected as Vice Chairman SCOPE

He is currently:

→ Board member XUV University Bhubaneshwar 

→ Member i2P2M governing body

→ Member of IOD Board, Bangalore

→ Board member CV Raman Global University Bhubaneswar

He is an Alumnus of St Stephens College from where he did his Economics Hons and thereafter went to XLRI for his Masters.

Prior to BEML he was in HPCL for a little over thirty years.

Presently working as Executive Director in Idam Infrastructure Advisory Pvt. Ltd, he is an expert in clean energy transition & RE integration. He has been Director General of National Institute of Wind Energy (NIWE) under Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE), Government of India.  His expertise includes sustainable energy, wind & solar energy integration, resource analytics and handling of very large systems like Indian and several other international grid systems & also complex industrial networks.  His vast experience of more than 3 decades is spread across the gamut of clean energy transition, renewable energy and power system engineering right from planning to the real time operation.

Dr. Balaraman is highly specialized in transition towards clean & sustainable energy, Renewable Integration, power system planning, and solving exceedingly intricate complex problems and providing solutions with right mix of tools, technologies and most of all, adept domain expertise. He has worked in the projects funded by ADB, US-AID, World Bank and other multi-lateral funding agencies.

His international experience besides India includes England, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Kuwait, UAE, Nigeria, Sri Lanka, Indonesia, Fiji, Angola, Bhutan, Bangladesh, Mongolia, Maldives, Denmark, Spain, USA, Cuba and other countries.

Cmde Siddharth Mishra (Retd.) is an Electrical Engineering Graduate with a Master of Science in Defence Studies and Master of Management Science. He is an alumnus of the prestigious Naval Academy and Naval College of Engineering, Lonavala. He was commissioned in the Electrical Branch of Indian Navy in the year 1985. In his almost 4 decades of distinguished career, Commodore he has worked with key institutions like Indian Navy, Atomic energy, Space and missile programs. 

He has held varied Operational and Staff Appointments in the Navy, including operational appointment as head of department on front line destroyer, Corvette and commissioned a missile boat. His Staff Appointments include Command Electrical Officer and Command Refit Officer at Southern Naval Command, Kochi, Joint Director (Electrical Engineering) at IHQ, Navy, Ministry of Defence. During the tenure at Naval Headquarters Cmde Mishra was instrumental in inducting and managing state-of-the-art technology, involved in policy formulation, a core team member and represented Indian Navy for induction of the Aircraft Carrier. Planning, Coordinating and ensuring execution of refits and modernization of ships and submarines was handled by Cmde in the Naval Dockyard, Visakhapatnam. In this capacity, he also controlled and managed the flawless operation/ maintenance/ asset management/ infrastructure development and resource planning of the Dockyard. 

He has undergone several courses from a number of prestigious institutions like Defence Service Staff College-Wellington, College of Defence Management, Hyderabad, Indian Institute of Management, Indore and the Institute of Cost and Works Accountants of India, New Delhi.

After serving Indian Navy in various capacities, he took premature retirement and assumed the appointment at Electronics Corporation of India Limited (ECIL), a PSU under Department of Atomic Energy. Various groups under Nuclear, Aerospace, Defence and IT & e-Governance verticals were steered by him. His contribution in the field of Nuclear Control and Instrumentation System, Radiation Monitoring, manufacturing of new types of detectors for Radiation Detection Instruments, creation of Strategic and Secure Communication Network across the country is well appreciated. He was actively involved in the Space program handling the project for enhancement and upgradation Data Reception System and Data Communication System at Antarctica and development of Ship Borne Terminal for tracking launch of satellites. An active member of the R&D Committee working closely with BARC and interacted with the Government machinery, International Mega Science Program like Facility for Antiproton and Ion Research (FAIR) at GSI Germany, Research organizations and think tank at all levels for Business and policy formation including skill development. He was also instrumental in first time bulk production of Voter Verifiable Paper Audit Trail (VVPAT) in India.

In March 2019, he assumed charge as Chairman and Managing Director of Bharat Dynamics Limited (BDL), a Mini-Ratna, Category-1 Public Sector Undertaking under the Ministry of Defence. Bharat Dynamics Limited is amongst a few industries in the world having capabilities to produce state-of-the-art Guided Weapon Systems. In his more than four years of tenure he transformed the company to a global giant.

The Company’s order book soared to more than Rs240 bn, including export order of $320 Million and market capitalization reached record Rs180 bn. He has brought several improvements in the organization in the areas of Capacity Augmentation, Modernization of production plants, introducing latest technologies like Industry 4.0, Artificial Intelligence, creation of RF and IIR seeker, Rocket motor and warhead manufacturing and testing facility etc. The need to become self-reliant “Atmanirbhar” in Defence was perfectly understood by him.

As Chairman & Managing Director, he steered the company towards entering into collaboration with global companies to facilitate transfer of technology of critical weapon systems, bringing in latest technologies and demonstrating the capabilities of BDL to ‘Make in India’. Under his dynamic leadership, the Company has signed more than 50 MoUs with Indian and foreign academia and OEMs like MBDA, Thales, Roxel, Dassault, Almaz-Antey, Rafael Advanced Defence Systems etc. to name a few. 

As Chairman of Society of Defence Technologiests (SODET), he has brought great synergy amongst DPSUs and other Member Organizations. Many initiatives have been taken up by SODET which has benefited the member companies as well as technologies community.