

India’s largest collaborative convening
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Since 2020, charcha has emerged as India’s preeminent livelihood convening, uniting visionaries and change makers from government, civil society and markets, and fostering conversations and collaborations towards creating resilient livelihoods.
Our pillars of impact
Collaboration
Inspiration
Insights


Co-hosts 2025
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Media Partner

Line Producer

Meet the speakers behind charcha 2025

Abhishek Singh is a career civil servant with 29 years of experience of governance & policy formulation. He specializes in use of Technology for improving Governance. He is presently posted as Additional Secretary, Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology, Government of India, with responsibilities of Artificial Intelligence & Emerging Technologies.
Cyber Security and Digital Skilling. He has previously served as CEO, Karmayogi Bharat in Department of Personnel & Training; and CEO NeGD, DIC and MyGov in Ministry of Electronics & Information Technology, Government of India.
He has done Masters in Public Administration from Harvard Kennedy School of Government. He is also an alumnus of IIT Kanpur.













Alok Kumar is an Indian Administrative Service officer of the 1998 batch from the Uttar Pradesh cadre. He currently serves as Principal Secretary in the Department of Planning and Programme Implementation, Government of Uttar Pradesh.
Born on April 16, 1974, he holds a Bachelor of Technology degree in Civil Engineering. Throughout his administrative career, he has been involved in planning, infrastructure development, and governance initiatives aimed at strengthening policy implementation and state development. Alok Kumar is proficient in English and Hindi.













Shri Amarjeet Sinha, a 1983-batch IAS officer of the Bihar cadre, served in the Indian Administrative Service for nearly four decades before retiring in 2019 as Secretary, Department of Rural Development. He was subsequently appointed as Advisor to the Prime Minister, a position he held until July 2021. With extensive experience in the rural and social sectors, he was instrumental in designing landmark national programmes such as Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan and the National Rural Livelihood Mission (NRLM). He also coordinated the Gram Swaraj Abhiyan in 2018, which delivered key pro-poor welfare interventions to nearly 64,000 villages.
In parallel with his government service, Mr. Sinha has contributed significantly to public policy research and writing. He has authored seven books, including The Last Mile – Turning Public Policy Upside Down, and has been associated with several leading universities and policy institutions. He currently serves as an advisor to Sampark Foundation, the Centre for Social and Economic Progress, and Women’s World Bank, and chairs the Gender Expert Committee of the Reserve Bank Innovation Hub. A graduate of St. Stephen’s College, where he was President of the Students’ Union, he has been the recipient of multiple national and international scholarships.











Amit Chandra is a Partner at Bain Capital and Chair of its India business, where he is also part of the Asia-Pacific leadership team. He joined Bain Capital in 2008 and founded the Mumbai office. Prior to this, he spent much of his career at DSP Merrill Lynch, overseeing Global Markets & Investment Banking and retiring in 2007 as Managing Director and Board Member. He began his career at Larsen & Toubro and also worked with NSR Advisors.
He is the Co-founder of the A.T.E. Chandra Foundation, which anchors the Chandra family’s philanthropic work, focusing on social sector capacity building and sustainable rural development. Amit has served on the boards of leading companies including Tata Sons, Genpact, L&T Finance, Piramal Enterprises, and Tata Investment Corporation. He was named a Young Global Leader by the World Economic Forum in 2007 and featured in Forbes Asia’s “Heroes of Philanthropy” in 2016 alongside his wife Archana Chandra, CEO of Jai Vakeel Foundation. He holds an undergraduate degree in Electrical Engineering from VJTI, Bombay University, and an MBA from Boston College, where he was awarded the Distinguished Alumni Award.











Mr Amitabh Kant is presently G20 Sherpa of India during its Presidency year. He was CEO, NITI Aayog (National Institution for Transforming India)- the Govt of India’s premier policy Think Tank & prior to that Secretary, Department of Industrial Policy & Promotion. Amitabh Kant is a member of the Indian Administrative Service, IAS (Kerala Cadre: 1980 Batch).
He is the author of “Branding India – An Incredible Story” , Incredible India 2.0 and has edited The Path Ahead "Transformative Ideas for India" and has been a key driver of “Make in India”, Startup India, “Incredible India” and “God’s Own Country” initiatives which positioned and branded India and Kerala State as leading manufacturing tourism destinations. These campaigns have won several international awards and embraced a host of activities – infrastructure development, product enhancement, private-public partnership and positioning and branding.
Till March, 2016 Amitabh Kant was posted as Secretary, Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion (DIPP) – Government of India. He has worked as Secretary, Tourism, Kerala, Joint Secretary, Tourism, Govt of India, District Collector, Kozhikode & CEO, Delhi- Mumbai Industrial Corridor.











Anaita Singh is a Senior Officer, Integrated Portfolio Management, DHAI at the Gates Foundation India Country Office. Previously, she served as Program Officer, Digital & AI in Health, supporting strategy and investments across Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Rajasthan, Assam, and MoHFW-level engagements for Family Health (FP, MICYN, MNCH), AI in Health, and digital gender inclusion. She co-leads the ICO DEI Advisory Council and supports efforts to bridge the gender digital divide in health. Before joining the Foundation, Anaita supported national and state partners on digital health architecture (ACCESS Health), implemented maternal health and nutrition programs (Dimagi), and worked across public health strategy at the Boston Consulting Group (BCG) and Cliniton Health Access Initiative (CHAI) in Lesotho, Afirca. With 12+ years of experience across India and Africa—including 10 years in digital health—her expertise spans DPI for health, digital enablement of FLWs and citizens, and last-mile service delivery. She began her career with Citibank with an MBA in Finance and specialisation in Public Policy from ISB Hyderabad and Bachelors Commerce (Honors) from Shri Ram College of Commerce.













After 17 years of starting and scaling various businesses, Atul started The/Nudge Foundation to do poverty alleviation work. Atul is now serving both The/Nudge and Give as their CEO.
Over his 5-year stint at InMobi as its Chief Business Officer, Atul helped scale the organisation to a global leader in mobile advertising, with operations in 20+ countries. Atul also served on the Board of Mobile Marketing Association.
Prior to InMobi, Atul was the Head of Mobile Business for Japan & Asia-Pacific at Google. Atul has also done various general management, business development and sales roles across technology companies including Adobe, Samsung and Infosys.
Atul served EndPoverty, a non-profit, as Chairperson for two years, working on water, sanitation, education, skill-development, sustainability and women empowerment. Atul serves on the Advisory Board of various nonprofits including Museum of Art & Photography (MAP), Udhyam Learning Foundation and Parivaar.
Atul has been named in the #40underForty list by The Economic Times in 2017,Mahatma Award for Social Impact in 2021. He regularly serves as Jury for various social impact award panels like Forbes 30Under30, Business Standard Social Excellence and UN Women WEF.
Atul holds a Masters in Business Administration (MBA) from Indian School of Business and B-Tech from National Institute of Technology.











Chetna Sinha is the Founder and Chairperson of Mann Deshi Bank and Mann Deshi Foundation, dedicated to empowering rural women and fostering holistic community development.
In 1997, Chetna established the Mann Deshi Mahila Sahakari Bank, India's pioneering financial institution designed for and by rural women. The bank has since facilitated loans exceeding 780 million, consistently innovating to introduce new financial products tailored to the evolving needs of female micro-entrepreneurs. Under Chetna's visionary leadership, Mann Deshi Bank pioneered the first pension scheme for women in the informal economy, showcasing an unwavering commitment to the financial well-being of women micro-entrepreneurs.
Chetna's impact extends beyond financial services. In 2006, she founded the first business school for rural women in India, providing education as a key empowerment tool. In 2013, she launched a toll-free helpline and established the first Chambers of Commerce for women micro-entrepreneurs in the country, fostering a supportive business ecosystem.
Recognizing the importance of community development, Mann Deshi Foundation, under Chetna's guidance, operates a diverse range of programs. These include a community radio station, a healthcare for all initiative, a sports for development program, and a climate-smart agriculture program, all geared towards comprehensive development within the communities it serves. It has also set up women-led farmer-producer companies and organizations.
Chetna Sinha's illustrious accolades include being a Yale Fellow, Ashoka Fellow, and Schwab Fellow. In 2018, she co-chaired the World Economic Forum in Davos and the Financial Inclusion segment at the W20 Summit in Argentina. The same year, she received the prestigious Nari Shakti Puraskar, the highest civilian award for women in India, from the President. Chetna is an active member of the BRICS Women's Business Alliance (2022) and the Gender Equality Advisory Council (2022), appointed during Germany's G7 Presidency. Additionally, she chaired the G20 EMPOWER's Working Group on Financial Inclusion and Business Acceleration in 2023. In 2024, she was invited to speak at the inaugural session of the 68th Commission on the Status of Women (CSW) at the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) in New York City.
Mann Deshi, headquartered in Mhaswad and operating in Maharashtra and Silvassa with an ambitious goal, the organization reached one million women in 2024, reflecting Chetna Sinha's tireless dedication to transforming lives and fostering sustainable development within marginalized communities.

Debjani Ghosh serves as a Distinguished Fellow at NITI Aayog and the Chief Architect of the NITI Frontier Tech Hub—India’s pioneering think tank advancing the nation’s readiness in frontier technologies for accelerated economic growth and societal development. With a career spanning over 28 years, including pivotal leadership roles at Intel and as the first female President of Nasscom, Debjani has been instrumental in shaping India’s rise as a global innovation powerhouse. At Nasscom, she redefined the organization’s focus on frontier technologies, strengthened India’s deep tech ecosystem, and championed global collaborations grounded in human-centric and sustainable innovation.
Her rallying call, “Think Digital. Think India.”, helped transform India’s image from a low-cost outsourcing hub to a global center of talent and innovation. She also introduced visionary ideas such as the “Techade”—a decade of technology-led transformation—and the “Inevitable India” strategy, positioning India as a trusted global partner in digital transformation. Honored by the President of India in 2018 as one of the nation’s “First Ladies,” Debjani has been recognized among the world’s most inspiring women by FemaleOneZero and Vogue. She currently serves on the boards of Karmayogi Bharat and the RBI Innovation Hub.











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.
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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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.













Jessica Jensen is Chief Marketing & Strategy Officer at LinkedIn, where she leads the company’s global Marketing & Strategy organization, overseeing brand, corporate strategy, and marketing initiatives worldwide. She brings extensive experience in driving growth and innovation across digital platforms, helping organizations scale their marketing and business strategies globally.
Prior to LinkedIn, Ms. Jensen served as Chief Marketing Officer at Indeed, OpenTable, and Senior Vice President of Marketing for Kayak, all part of Booking Holdings. She has also held leadership roles in B2B marketing and strategy at Facebook, Instagram, and Messenger, as well as consumer marketing at Apple for iAd, and was Vice President and General Manager of Yahoo! Shine and Yahoo! Health. Her career reflects a deep expertise in brand strategy, digital marketing, and global business growth.













Maneesha Chadha leads JPMorgan Chase’s philanthropic initiatives across 14 markets in the Asia-Pacific region as part of the firm’s Global Philanthropy team. With over 15 years of experience in CSR, philanthropy, and corporate citizenship, she drives the firm’s strategy to advance inclusive economic growth and community development across the region.
Before joining JPMorgan Chase, Maneesha served as Head of Corporate Citizenship at Citibank India and as Program Director at the RBS Foundation in India, where she worked extensively on sustainable development and community impact initiatives.

With over 25 years of experience in social development, program management, and nonprofit leadership, Bhasin brings a wealth of expertise to her role as CEO of Digital Green - India. Prior to joining Digital Green, she served as CEO of Nasscom Foundation, where she transformed the organization and took it to the next level by championing technology for social good and worked to bridge the digital divide in underserved communities across India by impacting over 15M lives positively. Before that, she spent two decades at Concern India Foundation as Deputy CEO, leading initiatives in education, health, and disaster rehabilitation, community development, particularly for women.
She is passionate to serve the intersectionality of technology, gender, climate and agriculture. Bhasin is an alumna of India’s prestigious Delhi School of Social Work, Delhi University. She is also a fellow of the Japan-India Transformative Technology Network (JITTN) by Salzburg Global, and has been featured among the “50 Women in Technology Leadership” by one of India’s leading IT magazines.

























Sandhya is an experienced leader with a 22-year career spanning banking, payments, and technology. She joined Meta in 2016, leveraging her expertise to drive growth in Singapore and Vietnam, and played a key role in promoting online shopping across Southeast Asia. In 2020, she took charge of the Gaming division for APAC.
She holds an MBA from FMS, Delhi. Sandhya is passionate about empowering women in business and serves as an executive sponsor for Women@APAC at Meta. She also founded Play Forward, a program focused on supporting women in leadership.
Sandhya serves on the global board of Pepper Financial Services, the National Library Board – Singapore, and is a board observer for Jio Platforms. She co-chairs the FICCI Committee on Media & Entertainment and the CII National Committee on IT & ITeS.











Dr. Vikram Chandra is a journalist and the Founder & Managing Director of Editorji Technologies, a multilingual video news platform he established in 2018. With early backing from HT Media and Bharti Airtel, the company saw the RP-Sanjiv Goenka Group acquire a majority stake in 2020.
A prominent figure in Indian journalism, Dr. Chandra is known for hosting flagship programs such as The India Story, offering in-depth analysis of key national and global developments. Before founding Editorji, he served as the CEO of NDTV Group, where he earned recognition for his reporting on major national issues, including the Kashmir conflict.










Themes
Tech, Data & Impact
Policy & Capacity
Agri & Rural Livelihood
Skills & Livelihoods
Social Entrepreneurship & SMEs
Inclusion, Empowerment & Sustainability
There’s a lot happening at charcha 2025
Exciting programming in play - marquee speakers, extensive CSR and CSO network participation, thought-provoking panels and workshops, curated networking, and more.


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