Leaders of the CEO's Association for Inclusive India (CAII)
Karan Bajwa
Chairman, CAII and Vice President, Asia Pacific, Google Cloud
Karan Bajwa joined Microsoft India in November 2007 and after serving in senior leadership roles. He was appointed as Managing Director of the sales and marketing operations of the subsidiary in 2013. In this capacity, his responsibilities include growing the sales and marketing operations, driving strategic partnerships and alliances with global platform partners, channel partners, international and local OEMs services, telecommunications industries and the system builder community. Karan brings with him an excellent understanding of enterprises as well as insight into the Indian public sector, having led teams for these businesses for the company in the last seven years.
Karan Bajwa joined Microsoft India in November 2007 and after serving in senior leadership roles. He was appointed as Managing Director of the sales and marketing operations of the subsidiary in 2013. In this capacity, his responsibilities include growing the sales and marketing operations, driving strategic partnerships and alliances with global platform partners, channel partners, international and local OEMs services, telecommunications industries and the system builder community. Karan brings with him an excellent understanding of enterprises as well as insight into the Indian public sector, having led teams for these businesses for the company in the last seven years.
Sameer Kochhar
Secretary General, CAII and Chairman, SKOCH Group & SKOCH Foundation
Mr Sameer Kochhar is a social scientist, leading reforms historian in India and an acclaimed author. His domain expertise on socio-economic issues has been used by the government and private sector alike for consultancy on public policy and strategy. He has published 16 books including Defeating Poverty, ModiNomics and The Untold Story of Indian Reforms. He is privileged to have his books released by Dr Manmohan Singh, Mr Narendra Modi, Mr Arun Jaitley and Mr P. Chidambaram, among several other luminaries. His mantra is growth, livelihoods and equity.
He is an industry veteran with a multifaceted career spanning over 37 years with extensive experience in using action research to bring felt-needs to policy and strategy. He is credited with several well-performing public policy interventions in areas of digital, financial and social inclusion. Considered fearless, he is often seen standing up to be counted on issues of national importance, asking difficult questions and offering seasoned advice. He has assessed first-hand a large number of projects in India and has also created one of the biggest independent knowledge repositories on what works/ This also serves as perhaps the only institutional memory of reforms in India.
He has been a member of several expert groups and committees constituted by the Ministry of Panchayati Raj, Government of India, advocating a case for a strengthening of local self-governance through use of technology; and, the Ministry of Communications and IT on the evaluation of National e-Governance Plan. He was on the advisory committee of College of Agricultural Banking of Reserve Bank of India for nearly 6 years. He has represented India in inter-governmental conferences.
Kulmeet Bawa
President, CAII and President & Managing Director, SAP India
Kulmeet Bawa is the chief architect of SAP’s growth and innovation strategies for the Indian Subcontinent. He is responsible for delivering bold transformations and exceptional SAP experiences to customers across the ecosystem, as well as guiding businesses in India, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka to adopt a digital-first mindset.
Over his 25 years of cross functional experience, Kulmeet has orchestrated business revolution by providing proven business outcomes for organizations across various industries and portfolios. Kulmeet was previously the Chief Operating Officer for Resulticks where he led the growth strategy and execution of go-to-market for the organization.
While at Adobe as Managing Director for India and South Asia, Kulmeet was instrumental in accelerating the organization’s growth momentum by expanding the business footprint within the Enterprise, SMB and Consumer sectors. Prior to Adobe, he has held various leadership roles managing enterprise development and business processes for major tech companies such as Microsoft Corporation and Sun Microsystems.
With a relentless focus on driving customer experience Kulmeet believes in nurturing and mentoring team members, promoting design thinking, creativity and innovative culture. He also actively contributes towards social initiatives which focus on education and women empowerment.
Prior to his corporate avatar, Kulmeet Bawa spent 12 years with the Indian Armoured Corps as a Cavalry officer. During his tenure with the Indian army, Kulmeet was Aide de Camp to the Governor of an Indian State and taught Strategy at the prestigious Armoured Corps Centre and School.
Kulmeet is a graduate from the Indian School of Business, Hyderabad, and an alumnus of the prestigious National Defence Academy.
Expert Jury Members
Dr G P Gupta
Former Controller General of Accounts, Government of India
He is an expert in Public Financial Management (PFM) and Debt Management with over 38 years of experience in Govt. of India. He has been Instrumental in conceptualization, implementation and universalization of PFMS in India. He also, worked as IMF's PFM Advisor to the Ministry of Finance, Govt. of Nauru and Director of the National Institute of Financial Management (NIFM)
Dr. Gupta is also an Independent External Monitor (IEM) nominated by the Central Vigilance Commission (CVC) for CPWD, Indian Bank and Chennai Petroleum. Member, Mediation Committee for resolving disputes between Punatsangchu Hydroelectric Project, Bhutan and Larsen & Toubro (L&T) Ltd. Member, Advisory Committee on Jammu & Kashmir (J&K) for Apportionment of Assets & Liabilities, Manpower, etc.
Mr U K Sharma
Senior Fellow, SKOCH Development Foundation & Former Adviser, NITI Aayog
Updesh Kumar Sharma is a former Adviser (Infrastructure and S&T) Planning Commission and NITI Aayog. He is an Electrical Engineer, MBA and MA (Public Policy & Sustainable Development). He has played a key role in setting up Atal Innovation Mission at NITI Aayog for radically transforming innovations and entrepreneurship eco-system in the country. He has also worked with NHPC and BHEL in various capacities and been on the Board of Central PSUs. He has participated in various academic and training programmes at leading Universities of US, Australia, South Korea.
Shefali Dash
Former Director-General National Informatics Centre
Dr Shefali Dash is Former DG, National Informatics Centre. She is PhD in Physics. Planning & Implementation of MIS and Decision Support Systems, development and implementation of e-Governance programmes, informatics development services and setting up of computer centres have been her forte. She has Implemented a number of national level projects like Rajiv Gandhi National Drinking Water Mission Computerization and Project Arrow.
Bhushan Mohan
Senior Fellow, SKOCH Development Foundation & Former Principal Counsultant, NeGD
Bhushan Mohan is an industry veteran and worked as Principal Consultant, NeGD, MeitY, Govt of India. He was responsible for formulation of policies, guidelines and strategy for implementation of NeGP with a vision to bring public services within reach of every citizen. He has contributed extensively in areas of policy formulation, strategic planning, procurement and technology assessment. He is an independent Consultant and a Mentor and also works as Advisor to PWC.
Surinder Singh Sur
Senior Fellow, SKOCH Development Foundation & Former Adviser, NITI Aayog
Surinder Singh Sur, Former Adviser, NITI Aayog is an Electrical Engineer by profession. He is a Master of Electrical Engineering from Delhi Technological University, MBA from University of Hull, UK and Master in Public Policy from TERI University. He was India’s representative at Development Policies programme in International Development Centre, Tokyo, Japan. He put together the blueprint for Integrated Energy Policy, 2008; represented India at G20 in China, Germany and Argentina. Now, he is an emeritus faculty in Pusa and Aryabhatt Institute of Technolgy, Delhi.
Madan Mohan
Senior Fellow, SKOCH Development Foundation & Former CGM, NABARD
Madan Mohan is a post graduate from IARI and had his management education from IIM Ahmedabad and Asian Institute of Management, Manila. As development management professional, he did pioneer work in developing SHGs in the state of J&K, skilling and financing of rural enterprises in Punjab. He has been to Harvard for advance course in appraisal of agri projects. Formerly, CGM, NABARD and CEO of NABARD Consulting, he consults with ministry of Agriculture and is a faculty with National Institute of Banking studies and Corporate Management (NIBSCOM).
Gopo Bihari Panda
Senior Fellow, SKOCH Development Foundation & Former Senior Adviser, Planning Commission
Gopo Bihari Panda is the Managing Director of Hewlett-Packard India. She has countrywide responsibility for revenues and profitability and ensuring the greatest leverage from HP’s Services, Personal Systems and Imaging & Printing businesses. With a portfolio that extends to offshore activities, BPO, Software Engineering, Research and IT Services, Neelam is focused on shaping the company’s overall business agenda and leading its strategy and corporate development efforts to make HP the most admired company in India. Previously, Neelam was the Managing Director of Microsoft India, a position she held from 2005 to 2008. During her tenure, she sharpened Microsoft’s strategic focus and improved its operating efficiency and execution, as well as its financial performance and customer focus.
Prior to this assignment, Neelam held a varietGulshan Raiy of successful leadership positions in leading Indian IT companies, including HCL and IBM. Neelam holds a bachelor’s degree in Economics from St. Stephen’s College, New Delhi and a Masters in Business Administration from the Faculty of Management Studies, Delhi University.
N Vijayaditya
Distinguished Fellow, SKOCH Development Foundation & Former Director General, National Informatics Centre
Dr N Vijayaditya, PhD in Information Systems from University of North Carolina, was DG, National Informatics Centre. He was responsible for supervising implementation of several e-Governance projects at the Centre and States. He was also Controller of Certifying Authority and worked extensively on developing security systems including digital signatures. He has done research in Pattern Recognition and Information systems and has been deeply involved in drawing the IT roadmap for roll out of GST.
M Ramachandran
Distinguished Fellow, SKOCH Development Foundation & Former Secretary, Government of India
M Ramachandran, PhD and MPhil in economic planning from University of Glasgow, UK, is former Secretary, Urban Development to Government of India and Distinguished Fellow and Principal Advisor to the Skoch Development Foundation. He has handled several national and international assignments. He was the First National Officer selected to be on deputation to United Nations Development Program (UNDP), India during 1986-1992. He was Principal Secretary, School/Higher/Technical Education in Uttaranchal and Principal Secretary to the Chief Minister before elevation to the position of Additional Chief Secretary & Infrastructure Development Commissioner and the Chief Secretary. He was identified as the “Infrastructure Man” in the state of Uttaranchal where he took several new initiatives including public-private partnership projects, lining up $1 billion Asian Development Bank assistance for the Power, Road and Urban Sectors, $120 million World Bank assistance for the Drinking Water sector and so on. As Secretary, MoUD, he steered the implementation of Jawaharlal Nehru Urban Renewal Mission (JNNURM), in addition to many other city reform programmes. He has authored six books, the three widely acclaimed ones being: An Alternative Approach to Project Planning in Public Works The Indian Context (2009); Urban Renewal and Policy Response (2009) (edited by Sameer Kochhar); and, Metro Rail Projects in India (2012) published by Oxford University Press.
Nirmal Bansal
Senior Fellow, SKOCH Development Foundation & Former Banker
Nirmal Bansal is a Certified Corporate Director-IOD/ MCA/IICA, M.IOD, Post graduate in commerce, CA IIB, PGDPR and Senior Fellow, SKOCH Development Foundation for over a decade. He is a Banking and Financial services professional with Public Affairs expertise. He was EVP & Govt Business Head with HDFC Bank; Director, Business & Government Affairs, FINO - responsible for establishing BC network for various banks across the country. He was instrumental in devising various digital initiatives like MCA21; payment of Scholarships at MHRD and so on.
Deepali Pant Joshi
Former Executive Director, RBI
Dr Deepali Pant Joshi is the former Executive Director of the Reserve Bank of India. She is a development Economist and a writer on economic subjects. Her professional responsibilities have included the Department of Currency Management, Legal Department and Premises Department. She was the First Appellate authority under the Right to Information Act, as well as the RBI nominee on the Governing Council of the Institute of Banking Personnel Selection (IBPS) and Director on the Board of Bharatiya Reserve Bank Note Mudran Private Limited (BRBNMPL).
Dr Joshi has also served as the RBI Regional Director of Rajasthan. Prior to her appointment as Executive Director, Dr Joshi was responsible for the Customer Service Department and Rural Planning and Credit Department.
Dr Joshi is a fellow of Harvard University Asia Centre where she did postdoctoral research in the areas of Finance and Economics. She holds a doctoral degree from the University of Allahabad and Law and Management degrees. She joined the Reserve Bank of India as a direct recruit in 1981 and has been with the Reserve Bank since. She has held several important professional responsibilities as Chief General Manager in charge of Urban Banks and Currency Management and administrative responsibilities at RBI Hyderabad. She was the Banking Ombudsman for the State of Andhra Pradesh and Principal, Bankers Training College and Director on the Board of Andhra Bank. Her previous professional responsibility was Chief General Manager in Charge of Rural Planning and Credit Department. She is a prolific writer and has four significant books to her credit. She renders faculty support to the College of Agricultural Banking and has lectured extensively at the IAS Academy at Mussoorie, at the Administrative Staff College, Hyderabad and at several Indian and foreign Universities. She has represented the RBI in several important International Conferences and is the India representative on the Financial Inclusion Expert Group of the G-20. Her policy interests lie in the area of welfare and development economics, law and currency management.
Subodh Shukla
Senior Fellow, SKOCH Development Foundation & Former Deputy Director General, National Informatics Centre
Mr Subodh Shukla, Senior Fellow, SKOCH Development Foundation, is a Mechanical Engineer from IIT-Kanpur, is Former Deputy Director General, National Informatics Centre. He is one of the rare professionals who worked on Mainframe Computers for years. After a brief stint abroad, he joined NIC in 1989. The I&B Ministry and its affiliates. He subsequently handled and implemented Aadhaar Enabled Biometric Attendance (AEBA).