Smt. Debashree Mukherjee, a 1991-batch IAS officer of the AGMUT cadre, currently serves as the Secretary in the Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship (MSDE), Government of India.

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With over three decades of experience in public administration, she brings deep expertise in governance, institutional development, and policy formulation. Throughout her distinguished career, she has held several pivotal roles across government, contributing significantly to administrative reforms, infrastructure development, and social sector advancement.

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As Secretary of MSDE, Smt. Mukherjee is driving the Skill India Mission — a flagship initiative focused on equipping India’s youth with industry-relevant and future-ready skills. Under her leadership, the ministry aims to strengthen the country’s skilling and entrepreneurship ecosystem, promote innovation, and accelerate progress toward Viksit Bharat @ 2047.

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.

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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.

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Deepa leads a diverse portfolio including the innovation ecosystem, Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) public relations, public affairs, investor and legal communications, employee relations, community relations, communications technologies, and other areas pertinent to corporate communications globally.  

Deepa has built the innovation ecosystem, ESG and communications practice grounds up. She leads a global team of experts, supported by an extended network of universities, government trade organizations, start-up ecosystems, PR agencies, digital marketing firms and content contributors.

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Deepa’s passion lies in developing communication strategies that align to the organization’s goals, both long and short-term.  She has worked on large-scale, multi-market and multi-language communication campaigns both with traditional media as well as new-age digital media platforms. Deepa has conceptualized and executed various high-impact public positioning around new ownership change, M&A, technologies, industry solutions, regulatory, corporate, citizenship and workplace and macro-economic issues. 

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In addition to managing global Public Relations, Deepa is focused on building and managing relationships with relevant industry bodies in the organization’s key markets including National Association of Software and Service Companies (NASSCOM), US-India Strategic Partnership Forum (USISPF), the Confederation of Indian Industries (CII), CII Indian Women Network (IWN) Karnataka, American Chamber of Commerce in India (AMCHAM), as well as premier educational institutes like Wharton Business School, Northeaster University, Oxford University, among many others.  

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For ESG, Deepa is responsible for developing and overseeing environmental, social and corporate governance policies and procedures, providing technical expertise on key issues related to environmental and social impact assessment and on sustainability risks in the design, preparation, and implementation, taking into consideration best industry practices and standards.

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Starting out as an individual contributor, Deepa has worked in various capacities and grown with the organization since it was $400k business to a $2 billion global organization, through multiple mergers and acquisitions. Reporting to the Managing Director & CEO, Deepa works closely with the board and all key stakeholders conceptualizing and executing strategies to position Mphasis as a strong technology service provider, financially sound, and an employer of choice.

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Deepak Bagla is the Mission Director of Atal Innovation Mission (AIM) at NITI Aayog, Government of India. He brings with him a distinguished career spanning multilateral institutions such as the World Bank, Citibank, and the private equity sector, with leadership roles across Europe, Asia, Africa, and Australia. His journey uniquely combines private sector expertise with public sector experience, offering a blend of strategic insight and operational excellence to the role. In 2015 he was appointed the Managing Director and CEO to establish Invest India, as The National Investment Promotion Agency of the Government and during his eight year tenure (March 2023) the Agency has been acknowledged as the World’s most awarded IPA. Invest India is the point of reference for Investors and also assists several important initiatives of the Government including, Startup India, One District One Product, and the digitisation of the processes and approvals during the investor journey.

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In March 2007, Deepak joined the UK based Private Equity firm, 3i plc, and raised India’s first Global Private Equity Fund dedicated to PPP projects in core infrastructure. With close to USD one billion in committed capital, the fund invested in roads, ports and power projects in India. From 1989, until March 2007, he worked with Citibank in the Global Corporate and Investment Bank and held several responsibilities across, Asia, Europe, Africa and Australia. He worked closely with the Corporates and Governments across these regions and was also associated with fund raising of entities.He has been a member of several High Level Government Committees including Committee on Financing infrastructure, Core Group on Corporate Governance for Independent Directors, Committees on Fintech, Innovation, Tourism, Healthcare, and a special invitee to the Hon'ble Prime Minister’s Science, Technology and Innovation Advisory Council.

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He has also been a member and special invitee on the official bilateral CEO Forums with, USA, UK, Canada, Brazil, Australia, France, Japan, Russia, South Africa, Sweden, Spain, Thailand, Republic of Korea, Israel, Singapore, Indonesia, Malaysia, Qatar and UAE.Deepak was on the Investment Committee of the Government’s US$ 1.5 Billion ‘Fund of Funds’ for Startups and is on the Advisory Board of the Government’s US$ 7 billion ‘Fund of Funds’ for MSMEs.

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He has a Bachelor’s degree with Honours in Economics from St Stephen’s College, Delhi University, and a dual Masters in International Diplomacy and International Trade and Finance, from the School of Foreign Service, Georgetown University, Washington DC.He was the elected President of the Geneva based, World Association of Investment Promotion Agencies (WAIPA). WAIPA is the world’s single largest Investment platform with a membership of over 105 countries.

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Divya Khemani Wadhera is seasoned commercial and technology leader with a proven track record of building transformative partnerships, accelerating business growth, and driving product innovation. In her current role at Meta, she leads strategic programs and high-impact partnerships with conglomerates and government bodies across Facebook, WhatsApp, and Instagram. With a career spanning Vodafone, Microsoft, and Meta, Divya has consistently pioneered initiatives at the intersection of technology and business—from establishing Vodafone’s SMB vertical to incubating and scaling Vodafone’s IoT practice globally, to forging telecom partnerships at Microsoft that brought cutting-edge connectivity solutions to market. A passionate advocate for leveraging technology to drive social and economic progress, she also leads Meta’s CSR initiatives among other initiatives.

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Dr. K. P. Krishnan served in the Indian Administrative Service (IAS) for 37 years, superannuating in December 2019. During his distinguished career, he held senior leadership roles in the Government of India including Secretary, Ministry of Skill Development & Entrepreneurship; Additional Secretary, Department of Economic Affairs, Ministry of Finance; and Secretary, Prime Minister’s Economic Advisory Council. He also served in the Government of Karnataka in diverse departments such as agriculture, urban development, commercial taxes, and finance, besides key field assignments including District Collector of Mangalore.

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Alongside his policy and administrative leadership, Dr. Krishnan has been an active academic and researcher. He has taught at IIM Bangalore, ISB, and Ashoka University, and was the Bok Visiting Professor of Regulation at the University of Pennsylvania Law School. He has served as the IEPF Chair Professor of Economics at NCAER and currently he is Distinguished Fellow at the Isaac Centre for Public Policy (ICPP), Ashoka University.  Dr. Krishnan sits on the Boards of leading corporates including Shriram Capital and Dr. Reddy’s Laboratories etc.

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Dr. R. Balasubramaniam is a development scholar, public policy advocate, and leadership educator with over four decades of grassroots experience. He is the founder of the Swami Vivekananda Youth Movement (SVYM), a development organization working at the intersection of health, education, and community empowerment in India. A physician by training and a Harvard-educated public leader and former faculty at Cornell University, Dr. Balu brings a unique blend of experiential knowledge and academic insight. He is also the founder of GRAAM, a public policy think tank. His work spans advising governments on governance reforms, strengthening democratic institutions, and building state capacity. He is the author of several acclaimed books, including "I, the citizen", "Leadership Lessons for Daily Living" and "Power Within: The Leadership Legacy of Narendra Modi", reflecting his ability to bridge spiritual wisdom, public policy, and leadership practice. His current writing explores leadership lessons from the Bhagavad Gita, integrating Indian philosophical thought with contemporary leadership theory.

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He is currently the Member-HR in the Capacity Building Commission of the Government of India. He is also the Chairperson of the Social Stock Exchange Advisory Committee of SEBI.

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