Saturday

22

January 2022

4:00 PM - 5:30 PM IST
Location

Online Via Zoom

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Infrastructure Development In India: Are We There Yet?

The Conversation Series

Aashish Chandorkar

Counsellor - Permanent Mission of India to the WTO (Govt. of India)
Former VP Capgemini Invent
Founder, Smahi Foundation of Policy and Research
Speaker

Professor Pallavi Vyas

Associate Professor, Economics and Public Policy
Amrut Mody School of Management
Ahmedabad University
Moderator


Infrastructure is the foundation of economic development. No country has achieved economic prosperity without investing in modern infrastructure assets. Since independence, successive Indian governments have focused on building rails, roads, ports, bridges, and highways, but there is still a gap between what is achieved and needed.

Recent initiatives such as National Infrastructure Pipeline, NaBFID, AMRUT, etc., are aimed at fast-tracking India’s infrastructure development. However, executing these ambitious plans is a herculean task that leaves many questions unanswered. How will India deal with the budgetary issues and commitment of large funds to a single sector? How will the creation of NaBFID contribute to strong infrastructure? How are Environment, Social, and Governance (ESG) risks mitigated in large-scale infrastructure projects? Is the private sector adequately leveraged in infrastructure development?

Our speaker, a public policy expert, will discuss the prerequisites for India to develop a world-class infrastructure. He has been extensively vocal about the future of infrastructure development in India on various media forums. He will critically evaluate India’s execution capacity for infrastructure development. We will discuss the potential outcomes of initiatives undertaken by the government in a pandemic-stricken economy.

Speaker

Aashish Chandorkar

Working with the Government of India in Geneva at the Indian mission to the World Trade Organization. Earlier, as an entrepreneur in the digital world, helped build and scale these enablers for India's booming technology economy.

  • Yugasmita Innovations: Digital marketing for Indian start ups, helping them design optimal digital media strategies.
  • Smahi Foundation: Public policy and research focusing at the intersection of governance, entrepreneurship and technology.
  • Bharatvaarta: India's fastest growing podcast platform, bringing to life informed and long-form discussions on issues of policy, politics and culture.

21 years of Management Consulting experience advising top tier clients across industries and geographies. Worked on advisory assignments with some of the large corporations globally.

Moderator

Professor Pallavi Vyas

Pallavi Vyas holds a PhD in Public Policy from the Harris School of Public Policy, University of Chicago. She also holds an MA in Economics from Bowling Green State University and a BA from Mumbai University. Her fields of interest are Labor Economics, Human Capital Theory, Public Health and Development Economics. In her dissertation, she studied the impact of changes in the female college wage premium and employment shocks on teen fertility behaviour in the U.S.