Mr. Subramanian is a member of the Indian Administrative Service (IAS) with 37 years of experience in key senior roles with the Government of India. A commercially astute policy maker, Mr. Subramanian has significant expertise in Energy, Infrastructure, Industrial Development and Finance. He is currently an advisor and board member of a number of private, and public sector enterprises and industry associations.

In his Union Government roles, he has served as the Secretary Ministry of New and Renewable Energy, wherein he led the country’s policy-making and regulation in this sector. Prior to this, he was the Financial Advisor in the Ministry of Civil Aviation and Director in Ministry of Finance, Government of India. During his tenure with the Government of West Bengal, Mr. Subramanian served as the Secretary, Department of Power, as the Secretary, Department of Labour, and as the Managing Director, West Bengal Industrial Development Corporation.

Mr. Jha was in the Indian Revenue Service for 36 years and has served as the Chairman, Central Board of Excise and Customs, Ministry of Finance, Government of India. He has led the formulation, implementation, and enforcement of Indirect Tax policy/laws, trade facilitation and harmonization of trade procedures; dealing with personnel matters of a workforce of over 72,000 employees; successful countrywide automation of various business processes through EDI, ICES, and ACES.

Mr. Jha has led country delegations for international trade negotiations, represented India in international forums like WCO, WTO, and UNCTAD; has specific experience of working with SAARC countries; and has had sustained interaction with government leaders, administrators in India and abroad, public and private sector chiefs and transnational corporates on all indirect tax matters. He has remained closely associated with the formulation of Goods and Services Tax (GST) policy. Mr. Jha is an Independent Director of SAIL (Steel Authority of India Limited) and consults with the Federation of Indian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (FICCI) as an Expert Advisor on selected public policy matters.

Partha, former Partner of PricewaterhouseCoopers and KPMG in India is a professional with 30 years of experience; first 8 years in the industry and next 15 years in consulting, last 5 years of which as a Partner in PwC and KPMG. In DEX-DEFT, he is conceptualizing and directing key advisory and research projects. Earlier, he has:

1. built and led consulting business unit with P&L responsibility to deliver programs for corporate clients, public sector units, governments and funding agencies;

2. advised government and public sector clientele on strategic reforms and institutional strengthening, regulatory consulting, solution development, and its implementation;

3. managed large, multidisciplinary, multi-stakeholder public sector projects with ensuring proper task planning, optimum scheduling, budgeting, and successful completion

4. conducted primary and secondary research, conceptualized and delivered consulting solutions, synthesized and independently written reports, and presented to boards and senior executives;

Partha has authored thought papers throughout his career, some of which have won awards, and has been an active speaker at professional forums. He has also worked with a number of international funding agencies like the World Bank, ADB, DFID, UNDP, and various regulatory agencies within as well as outside India.

Partha holds a B.Tech (Hons) from IIT Kharagpur, Master of Business Management from IIT Kharagpur, and Ph.D. from IIT Delhi. He is a Project Management Professional (PMP) from Project Management Institute (PMI), USA, and Diploma in Business Finance from the Institute of Chartered Financial Analysts of India.

Professor Emeritus (Dr.) V.P.S. Arora is a distinguished academician and institutional leader, widely recognized for his pioneering contributions to agricultural economics, agribusiness management, and higher education policy. With a career spanning nearly five decades, Dr. Arora has played a transformative role in shaping agricultural education and university governance in India and abroad. Presently he is the Principal Advisor, Shri Venkateshwara Group of Institutions, Advisor, Sharda University (Agra), AERA Fellow, Higher Education Policy.

An alumnus of G.B. Pant University of Agriculture and Technology, Pantnagar, Uttarakhand, Dr. Arora served the university for over 30 years as a respected faculty member and academic administrator. He made a landmark contribution as the founding Dean of the College of Agribusiness Management, the first such college established under the ICAR-SAU system, marking a significant milestone in the integration of business principles into agricultural education.

Dr. Arora has held several prestigious academic leadership roles, including:

• Vice Chancellor of Kumaun University, Nainital (Uttarakhand)
• Vice Chancellor of Shri Venkateshwara University (Uttar Pradesh)
• Pro-Chancellor of Shri Venkateshwara University (U.P.) and Venkateshwara Open University (Arunachal Pradesh)

Under his stewardship, these institutions witnessed considerable academic advancement and institutional innovation.

On the international front, Dr. Arora has been actively engaged as an expert consultant with several renowned organizations, including:

• Asian Productivity Organization (APO)
• International Rice Research Institute (IRRI)
• Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD)
• Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO)

As a committed mentor, Dr. Arora has guided 24 Ph.D. scholars and led numerous research initiatives, contributing to a wide array of publications and policy dialogues in his field. His scholarly and administrative work continues to inspire generations of academics and policymakers.

Dr. Arora's excellence has been widely acknowledged through several national and institutional honours, including:

• Dr. Rajendra Prasad Award
• Lifetime Achievement Awards (2009 and 2020)
• Uttarakhand Ratan Award (2011)
• Higher Education Leadership Award (2016)
• Awarded Outstanding Alumnus by Pantnagar University (2020) and by the College of Agriculture (2019)
• Multiple Best Paper Awards

He has also served as Conference President of the Indian Society of Agricultural Marketing (2010) and the Agricultural Economics Research Association (2013), reinforcing his status as a thought leader in agricultural policy and education.

Dr. V.P.S. Arora's legacy is one of visionary leadership, academic excellence, and a lifelong commitment to empowering institutions and individuals through knowledge and innovation.

Balram is a member of the Indian Economic Service since 1993. He has a total experience of 32 years of which 12 years was in senior management positions. A qualified and seasoned economist, he has performed many significant roles for the National Labour Bureau and National Planning Commission, India. In his most recent appointment, he was the Director of, Labor Bureau. In this role, he was in-Charge of the All India Annual Employment-Unemployment Survey covering 130,000 households to estimate State-wise labour force participation and unemployment rate. He has successfully led the survey for three years. His professional expertise lies in Labor Market Analysis, Economic surveys and statistics, Economic policy and planning, and Project Appraisals and Monitoring.

Some other significant and relevant assignments completed by Balram are i) Estimation of employment rate in the country to assess the impact of economic development/slowdown on a quarterly basis ii) Economic monitoring and analysis of State level development plans and budgetary issues iii) Periodic assessment, reporting and impact assessment of employment, wages, social conditions and implementation of statutory obligations in different industries, sectors, gender and social groups. Apart from these Balram has been instrumental in planning and designing routine survey outcomes which are useful for policy formation and deciding on various labour development schemes and budget outlays. He was responsible for survey design, coordinating the administration, data structuring, interpretation and analysis, report writing, and presentation of the survey outcome.

Mr. Mitra is from the Indian Economic Service with 35 years of experience with the Government of India; much of it in Labour Policies, Regulations, Program Monitoring, Social Justice, and Empowerment. His key roles with the Government of India in the last ten years were: (a) Principal Labour and Employment Advisor, Ministry of Labour and Employment, (b) Chief Economic Advisor, Ministry of Rural Development, and (c) Joint Secretary, Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment.

His key works include: (i) Policy design of the implementation of Socio-Economic Caste Census (SECC) Ministry of Rural Development to map the socio-economic profile of various communities for their overall development.  The programme was implemented through state governments, public sector undertakings and the National Informatics Centre. At the central level, he played a key role in assessing the quality of information, and analysis of the results. (ii) Scholarship, schemes for Scheduled Caste, Other Backward Class students for economic, educational empowerment of depressed sections of society. Besides, he was a Board Member of National Corporations to uplift Scheduled Castes, Other Backward Classes (iii) Evaluation of Studies on major rural development programmes: assessing Rural employment, skill generation, rural road connectivity suggesting policy changes based on the evaluation, (iv) Designing policies and legislations on minimum wages, occupation safety, and health and employment generation ensuring all India coverage of sectors, particularly the informal sector for minimum wages and occupation safety and health, (v) Implementing National Career Services portal to facilitate job creation, overseeing Employment / Unemployment survey of Labour Bureau.

In DEX-DEFT, he has been an advisor to the ILO’s Child Labour policy action project and peer-reviewed the key outputs and reports submitted.

Shri Devendra Kumar than more than 35 years of experience in governance, public policy, financial management, treasury operations, administration, and collaboration between union and state governments. He has hands-on experience of working with international institutions such as World Bank, GEF, IFAD on projects of national importance. He possesses sound knowledge of educational and university management systems with a focus on Research and Development, Education, Information technology, infrastructure, food processing and agriculture.

Presently he is (a) the Honorary Treasurer, Member of Board of Trustees, and Member of Board of Governors at Institute of Economic Growth (a think tank for Reserve Bank of India, and Ministry of Finance, Government of India on Advanced Research and Economic Policies), under Indian Council of Social Science Research, Ministry of Human Resource Development, Government of India, New Delhi, and (b) Adjunct Professor at University School of Management and Entrepreneurship, Delhi Technological University, New Delhi.

Earlier he was the Director Finance (Joint Secretary Scale), Indian Council of Agricultural Research, Department of Agriculture Research and Education, M/o Agriculture and Farmers’ Welfare Government of India, New Delhi. He has also served as (a) the Director Finance and Coordinator of Business Process Development Units and IT Cell, National Agriculture Innovation Project to setup 25 BPDs which have produced more than 100 start-ups in food and agriculture, waste energy, and (b) Financial Advisor, Directorate of Technical Education, Government of NCT Delhi and O.S.D to then then Chief Minister of NCT Delhi.

Shri Devendra Kumar is a Master’s in Business Administration (Finance) from the Faculty of Management Study, University of Delhi. He has done the prestigious Executive Management Program in Strategic Leadership and Policy Planning for Senior Managers in Government from Harvard Kennedy School and Harvard Business School, Harvard University USA, and the Advance Management Program            from SDA Bocconi, Milan, Italy.

Kamal is a public sector specialist, with a grounding in civil services and over 18 years of experience, focusing on policy, strategic and operational transformation of government entities at all levels using technology, processes, legislation, and capacity building as enablers. Kamal has worked for nine years in leading global consulting firms PwC and Deloitte where he was a Director. Over the last 13 years, he has worked as an eGovernment and ICT for Development expert with Indian and international clients in Asia, Africa, and Europe including government bodies at all tiers of governance and donor institutions like the World Bank, African Development Bank, UNDP, and others.

Included among the assignments Kamal has successfully led are the National ICT Strategy for Mauritius (2007-11), eGovernment strategic roadmaps for Namibia and Serbia, recommendations for the use of ICT in public services delivery across countries in Africa, and ICT4D action points for Latin American countries. Kamal is a B.Tech in Mechanical Engineering from IIT, Kanpur, and is currently also pursuing a doctoral programme at IIT, Delhi on the use of ICT for the construction industry.

Piyali has over three decades of experience in the education sector, women's empowerment, and skill development across India and South Asian countries. She has worked extensively with government agencies, international organizations, and leading corporates, including the ADB, DFID, UN, WHO, the World Bank, and brings a wealth of knowledge and expertise to the development sector. Her core competencies include training, capacity building, policy analysis, advocacy, and program evaluation. She holds a postgraduate degree in Management and has further strengthened her capabilities through specialized trainings at premier institutions such as the Tata Institute of Social Sciences (Mumbai), Consultancy Development Centre (New Delhi).

In addition to her professional roles, Piyali actively contributes as a trustee, board member, and external committee member for various organizations. She has led numerous initiatives aligned with the Sustainable Development Goals, Corporate Social Responsibility, underscoring her commitment to inclusive and sustainable development. In DEX-DEFT, Piyali is working as a specialist to advise improving quality of state-level Higher Education Institutions.

Anshu is a Chartered Accountant in practice. Prior to this, she was with PricewaterhouseCoopers for 5 years providing professional service to several multinational clients of the firm. Her work included statutory audits, tax advisory, management, and internal audits, special assignments, accounting support, and related services

Anshu is currently engaged with DEX-DEFT as a financial expert. She worked as an associate on an ADB assignment to prepare the Project Completion Report for Madhya Pradesh Power Sector Investment Program. In this project, she performed a financial and economic analysis in order to estimate the economic return of the USD 106 Million investment programme. Further, in an ADB assignment for conducting a study of the power sector of Cambodia, she assisted the lead researcher in analysing financial data. She was also part of a research study to understand sector specific market opportunities and challenges in the State of Andhra Pradesh pertaining to the policy framework for the supply of solar energy through open access and constraints. Completely at ease with numbers and financial modeling, Anshu has worked on various projects in the labour market space as a financial expert namely for the Iron and Steel Sector Skill Council, Mining Sector Skill Council, and multiple skill development and vocational training providers.

Sneha holds a doctorate in economics from Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi, India. She has served as a visiting faculty for managerial statistics at ISME, Bangalore. Her professional experience spans early childhood education: creating learning materials for pre-primary children, teacher training, and guiding teaching pedagogy to improve learning outcomes in alignment with NEP. She has also briefly contributed to the preparation of e-content in Economics for NCERT.

Her academic pursuits delve into the realm of choice and decision making within higher education, university rankings, education-employment linkages, skill development, institutional strengthening, digital transformation, gender disparity, and broader issues of social development. She actively participates in national and international conferences.

Her recent researches is a chapter contribution in books published by Springer (Singapore), Oxford (UK) and Emerald (UK). She has also written for The Telegraph and her work has been featured in international journals such as Journal of Comparative and International Higher Education (U.S.A). She is proficient in both qualitative and quantitative research methodologies, bringing a comprehensive approach to her work. In DEX-DEFT, Sneha is working on Institutional Development Planning in the Higher Education sector.