India Digital Communications and Media Forum

Abhishek Malhotra is a Senior Advocate with a 25-year standing as an arguing counsel. He has represented a wide variety of individuals, companies and Government institutions in a variety of matters across the country. He has appeared before the Supreme Court, the High Courts of Judicature at Delhi (where he practices regularly), Himachal Pradesh, Rajasthan, Gujarat, Punjab & Haryana, Allahabad, Calcutta, Andhra Pradesh & Telangana, Madhya Pradesh, Bombay, Odisha, Kerala, Madras and Karnataka.

An alumnus of the National Law School of India University, Bangalore, he also holds an LL.M. from U.S.A. He is qualified to practice in India and California, U.S.A.

Over the last more than 25 years of practice, Mr. Malhotra has been engaged in matters relating to Commercial Disputes, Arbitrations, Infrastructure development and land acquisition related mandates, Intellectual Property, and Regulatory Disputes. Mr. Malhotra has represented the Competition Commission of India as a panel counsel and has been invited as an expert on various issues by Government departments such as Ministry of HRD, Ministry of MIB, Department of Telecommunication, Department of Space, etc. He also regularly speaks at institutions such as the National Judicial Academy, National Law School, US-India Business Council, FICCI and CII.

Shri Abhishek Singh is a career civil servant with 30 years of experience of governance & policy formulation. He specializes in use of Technology for improving Governance.

He is presently posted as Director General, National Informatics Centre & Additional Secretary, Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology, Government of India, with responsibilities of Artificial Intelligence & Emerging Technologies, Human Centred Computing (HCC) and Digital India Bhashini Division.

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.

Mr. Akhilesh Kumar Trivedi is working as Advisor in Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI). He is associated with the work related to mobile networks, frequency spectrum and telecom licensing. Mr. Trivedi belongs to 1998 Batch of Indian Telecom Service (ITS) officers and has got 26 years of experience in the telecom services sector. He has worked in various positions in telecom domain including installation, operation & maintenance of telecom networks, telecom licensing and telecom regulation. He is an engineering graduate in Electronics & Telecommunications from the University of Allahabad. He also holds Post Graduate Diploma in Management (PGDM) from the Indian Institute of Management (IIM) Lucknow, and LLB Degree from the University of Delhi.

Ms. Ambika Khurana is the Chief Regulatory & Corporate Affairs Officer of Vodafone Idea Limited, India’s leading telecom service provider.

Ambika is a respected industry leader, and has been lauded for forming industry and government coalitions for the growth of the sector, towards designing a predictable and friendly policy ecosystem. Her deep understanding of technical, commercial and regulatory principles integrate well with strategic insights on Government stakeholder management, that help translate business priorities into valuable advocacy positions, and hyper scale business growth.

Ambika has 25 years of experience in Government Relations and Public Policy and has expertise in Corporate Affairs, Communications, Regulatory Compliance, External Affairs, Future of Work, Digital Transformation, Data Management and Digital Payments.

Ambika was last posted at Netflix as Director and Head of Public Policy. As a member of the India leadership team at Netflix, she deepened corporate thought leadership, strengthened business reputation, enabled critical partnerships and CSR, enhanced business efficiencies, and mitigated political, legislative, and regulatory risks. She has also worked with organizations such as TCS, HCL, IBM etc.

Ambika holds a Master of Business Administration from IIT Delhi and a Bachelor of Engineering from Thapar Institute of Engineering and Technology.

Amit Kushwaha embarked on his journey with AT&T in May 2021, assuming the leadership role in External and Regulatory Affairs for the company’s operations in India. Presently, he manages all regulatory policy and operational issues across India, Oceania, and the ASEAN region.

Working out of Gurgaon, India, Mr Kushwaha has a reputable track record in managing public policy, regulatory operations, compliances, strategy, and government affairs in India’s telecommunications sector. He is deeply involved in regional policy developments across various industries, including 5G, telecommunications, digital trade, personal data protection, data movement, privacy, IoT, cybersecurity, and AI governance.

At AT&T, his work involves ensuring license compliance, obtaining approvals and permissions from regulators/licensors, providing regulatory due diligence/advice for new B2B products/solutions, tracking crucial policy issues, updating relevant business teams to ensure compliance, and making policy submissions/representations to the government for the region.

Mr Kushwaha collaborates extensively with numerous industry associations such as the Association of Competitive Telecom Operators (ACTO), Internet Service Providers Association of India (ISPAI), US India Business Council (USIBC), AMCHAM India, Asia Pacific Carrier’s Coalition (APCC), and Broadband India Forum (BIF). He currently serves as the President of ACTO, Co-chair of the Digital Economic Committee at USIBC, and an EC member of ISPAI and BIF.

Before joining AT&T, Mr Kushwaha served as the Vice President of Regulations, Public Policy and Compliance at Bharti Airtel. Prior to his nearly 12-year tenure at Bharti Airtel, he was working with the Department of Telecommunications of the Indian Government for over 8 years, focusing on Network Deployment, Regulations, and Compliance.

Mr Kushwaha holds a Master’s Degree in Technology (Telecom Networks) and has also completed a Post-graduate Program in Public Management and Policy

Anil Kumar Bhardwaj is currently working as Deputy Director General in Department of Telecom (DoT), Government of India looking into Strategic Engagements, Policy Initiatives and Promoting Local Manufacturing of Telecom Equipment in India. Through Industry Focus groups, he is coordinating Policy initiatives by DoT in field of ‘Generative AI for Telecom Networks’, ‘Spam Calls and Control Thereof’, ‘Social Inclusion’ and ‘Enhancing Meaningful Digital Connectivity’.

Prior to current assignment, Sh. Bhardwaj, worked as Director General TRAI Centre of Studies & Research and Adviser, Broadcasting Services managing the Regulatory issues of the Broadcasting sector. He was instrumental in working of issues of Promoting Local Manufacturing in the country and assimilation of technology by Indian Enterprises.

Previously he was Adviser (Economics), Competition Commission of India managing the Competition Assessment, Competition Advocacy and IT Division.

He has more 25 years of experience in Government, first in telecom Sector and since last six years in Corporate and financial regulation. Known as a change agent he was head of e-Governance Division in Ministry of Corporate Affairs that introduced first successful e-Governance portal MCA21- India’s the Business Registration Portal of India that helped in improving ‘Ease of Doing Business Rating’ in India.

He has done Masters in International Development Policy from Duke University Durham USA, MBA in Finance from IGNOU, B. from Meerut University and Engineering from J. C. Bose University of Science and Technology Faridabad.

Won numerous awards like VISHISHT SANCHAR SEWA PADAK in 2003, National ‘Web Ratna Award’ for e-Governance implementation at MCA21 in 2011, GEM of YMCA from YMCA University of Science and Technology, Jury Award for National Rural Broadband Mission, etc.

Mr. Anil Kumar Dutta is currently working as a Joint Secretary in E-Governance Board, Nepal. He is looking after overall activities related to E-Governance of Government of Nepal. Before joining the board, he has worked as a Joint Secretary for 5.5 years in Ministry of Communication and Information Technology (MoCIT). He was the chief of IT Division in MoCIT. He was leading Digital Nepal Framework Project of Nepal Government.  He had joined Civil Service as a Computer Engineer and has been working in the Government of Nepal for 27 years. He has served in different government organizations like Election Commission, Ministry of Finance, Ministry of Home Affairs, National Identification Management Center, Office of Controller of Certification, Ministry of Communication & IT etc.

He holds master degree in Computer Science from West Bengal University of Technology, India.

He has visited countries like India, Japan, Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore, Brunei, Czech Republic, Qatar, Oman, Pakistan, France, South Korea etc.

He has participated in many national and international conferences as key note speakers and as special speakers.

Shri Anil Kumar Lahoti, Chairman, Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) is an officer of the Indian Railway Service of Engineers from the 1984 batch. He had superannuated as Chairman & CEO, Railway Board on 31st August 2023 after a career spanning about 37 years Indian Railway. He is a graduate in Civil Engineering from Madhav Institute of Technology and Science, Gwalior, with gold medal and has master’s degree in engineering (Structures) from IIT Roorkee. He has worked in various positions in the Central, Northern, North Central, Western, and West Central Railway, as well as in the Railway Board.

Besides Chairman & CEO, Railway Board, some of the important positions held by Shri Anil Kumar Lahoti include Member Infrastructure, Railway Board, General Manager of Central Railway and Western Railway, Divisional Railway Manager, Lucknow, Northern Railway, Chief Administrative Officer (Construction), Northern Railway and Executive Director, Railway Board. Post his retirement, Ministry of Railway had appointed him to a One-Man Expert Committee for improvement in inspection and maintenance of track. In December 2023, Gati Shakti Vishvavidyalaya, Vadodara, a Central University appointed him as a Distinguished Visiting Professor.

His expertise includes railway operations, track maintenance, project execution and station redevelopment. During his illustrious career, Shri Lahoti initiated several reforms in execution of infrastructure projects and took several initiatives to modernize and mechanize track maintenance on Indian Railways. During his stints as CRB & CEO, GM and DRM, he brought about significant improvement in freight transport performance and took several customer friendly initiatives to improve the quality of service and ease the customer interface. He has also extensively contributed to planning and structuring of station redevelopment projects in various positions served by him. Shri Lahoti has travelled to various countries in Europe, North America, Asia, and Australia in connection with official assignments. He has undertaken executive training programmes at Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, USA, SDA Bocconi Business School, Milan, Italy and Indian School of Business, Hyderabad.

He was born to Freedom Fighter Late Shri Ratan Lal Lahoti and Late Smt. Kanchan Devi Lahoti at Guna, M.P. and is the younger brother of former Chief Justice of India Late Justice R.C. Lahoti. His wife is a homemaker and his son is a working professional in Bangaluru.

Anita Kumar has close to 17 years of experience as an integrated communication and public affairs professional. At Cisco, Anita engages closely with central and state governments on policy and strategic partnerships across emerging technology, cybersecurity and other social projects. Anita is also closely engaged with Cisco India’s Corporate Social Responsibility initiatives and brings her expertise on leveraging government platforms.

Anita has worked with leading integrated communications consultancies like Genesis BCW and Edelman. During her decade long experience as consultant, Anita advised several domestic and multinational companies across different sectors like energy, healthcare technology, steel & mining, etc. Anita was also seconded in government agencies like Energy Efficiency Services Limited, where she was responsible for strategizing and implementation of integrated communications for the adoption of energy demand side management programs, like the LED bulbs at home and streets program.

Anita is a Master’s in Business Law from National Law University of India, Bengaluru and holds a Post-Graduate diploma in Communications from Jamia Milia Islamia University, Delhi.

coming shortly

Berges Malu is the Director for Public Policy at Koan Advisory as well as the convener for the Safer Internet India coalition. He has worked closely in social media content regulation. Prior to joining Koan, Berges built and led the public policy function at ShareChat for over six years.

Over the past 25 years Biren has helped build studios and produce cutting-edge Animation, VFX, Games, Comics and XR [AVGC-XR]. For over 15 years, he led Technicolor Group’s Asia Pacific operations, transforming India into the world’s largest visual arts production hub. Under his stewardship, the studio scaled to over 7,300 artists, delivering experiences at the forefront of storytelling through the company’s global brands – MPC, The Mill, Mr.X, Mikros Animation, and Technicolor Games. He has now founded Astra Studios, a bold new force in global creative technology aiming to design bespoke creative systems blending human artistry with AI intelligence.

Biren serves as Chairman of the CII National AVGC Committee, President of ABAI, and a Governing Body Member of MESC (Media & Entertainment Skills Council). He played a key role in the formulation of India’s National AVGC Policy and the creation of the Indian Institute of Creative Technologies (IICT), where he also served as a pro bono interim CEO in its formative period. His advocacy spans government engagement, industry collaboration, and future-facing initiatives around AI, Machine Learning, Skilling, and IP creation.

Biren previously held senior roles at UTV [now Walt Disney India], Eros International, where he managed India’s first structured film studio slate. He founded Kahani World, an animation IP venture promoting Indian stories globally. His international career spans media, technology, and entrepreneurship—including nearly a decade in the Middle East managing multinational portfolios.

Cheki Dorji is an Executive Engineer with the Division of Telecom and Space under the GovTech Agency, Royal Government of Bhutan. He currently manages a national satellite project and plays a key role in the development and strategic planning of Bhutan’s space regulatory frameworks, including those for LEO satellite communications. In addition, he provides advisory support on the telecommunications sector, contributing to policy, regulatory, and strategic initiatives aimed at enhancing the affordability, availability, and reliability of connectivity in the country.

Dr. Deepali Sharma serves as Advisor (Broadcasting and Cable Services) at the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI), bringing nearly 28 years of cross-functional experience across the broadcasting and telecommunications sectors. Her expertise spans policy formulation, licensing, regulatory frameworks, and project and contract management.

She began her career with the public broadcaster of India, where she gained hands-on experience in the installation, operations, and maintenance of broadcasting networks. She later contributed to the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI), playing a strategic role in integrating Aadhaar, India’s digital identity platform, with key fintech and public service delivery systems. Her tenure at the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting further deepened her engagement with broadcasting policy and legislative development.

An Electronics and Telecommunications Engineer, Dr. Sharma holds a Postgraduate Diploma in Public Policy and Management from the Indian Institute of Management Bangalore, where she is also a Fellow.

Devhuti Bakshi is Director- Public Policy at the E-Gaming Federation and hails from a rich consulting experience in regulatory reforms, policy planning and advisory, private sector investments, investment facilitation, regulatory simplification, etc. During her professional journey, she has represented the Government of India in high-powered delegations overseas. In the past she has worked with Ernst & Young’s Strategy & Transformation Practice, focusing on the Government Sector.

Gaurav Dwivedi is a 1995 batch IAS Officer of the Chhattisgarh Cadre. He started his administrative career as an Assistant Collector in Kerala before joining Chhattisgarh Government. He has worked in various capacities in Kerala, Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh. He is a recipient of the Prime Minister’s Award for Excellence in Administration for his work on food security & computerizing paddy procurement and PDS distribution. He was the first CEO of MyGovIndia under Ministry of Electronics & Information Technology and managed the GoI’s citizen engagement platform launched by the Hon’ble Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi in 2014. He assumed office as CEO, Prasar Bharati in November, 2022.

John Khiangte is the Director of Government Affairs & Public Policy at Microsoft, based in Gurgaon, where he also leads the company’s cybersecurity policy efforts. He is part of Microsoft’s Corporate, External, and Legal Affairs (CELA) team—a multifaceted group responsible for managing legal, regulatory, and government affairs, ensuring compliance with legal standards, and engaging with external stakeholders to advance strategic initiatives.

Prior to joining Microsoft, John served as Executive Director of Global Public Policy at Disney-Star India, where he led a team addressing regulatory issues across television broadcasting, online streaming, copyright, and technology regulation.

His 20 years of professional experience also include roles as Director of Government Affairs at PLR Chambers, Policy Analyst at Amway India, Research Head at Albright Stonebridge Group (India), and Analyst at the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU) India.

John holds a master’s degree in economics from the Delhi School of Economics, specializing in the economics of regulation, public policy, and international trade, as well as a bachelor’s degree in economics from Sri Ram College of Commerce.

Justice Gita Mittal, former Chief Justice of the High Court of Jammu & Kashmir and Acting Chief Justice of the Delhi High Court, currently serves as Chairperson of the Broadcasting Content Complaints Council (BCCC), committees for the Vulnerable Witness, and Relief and Rehabilitation of Internally Displaced Persons in Manipur appointed by the Supreme Court of India. She has been actively involved in establishing Vulnerable Witness Deposition Centres (VWDCs) pan India. She has extensive experience in arbitration, and has handled over 80 cases including international matters. A trailblazer in Indian judiciary, she has been recognized with numerous accolades including the prestigious Nari Shakti Puruskar (2018), the highest civilian honor for women in India and the Arline Pacht Global Vision Award (2021) by the International Association of Women Judges—the only Indian judge to receive this honour. She was also conferred the V-WA 50 Lifetime Achievement Award from Western Digital (a leading worldwide data infrastructure provider) in 2021, amongst others. Justice Mittal was also invited to the Vatican City on an invitation by the Pope Francis to speak at a summit of Judges and Prosecutors on Human Trafficking.  She has also represented India and spoken at International Conferences in New Zealand, Philippines, United Kingdom (London), South Korea (Seoul), United States of America, Argentina, etc. She was also appointed as Special Commissioner of the Independent Special Commission, investigating allegations arising from the work of SOS Children’s Villages, Austria. She pioneered the Vulnerable Witness Courtroom Project in India, launching the first such courtroom in 2012, which received recognition globally and by the Supreme Court of India. Justice Mittal has contributed significantly to various branches of law, notably in areas of Constitutional Law, Environmental Law, Gender Justice, Human Rights, and Alternative Dispute Resolution.

Lynn Robinson became Director General of the International Institute of Communications (IIC), in March 2020.

Lynn is an experienced senior director and trustee / non exec-director, having held key senior leadership positions in the technology, built environment, regulation, accreditation and dental industries. She has extensive experience of professional membership bodies working within the full spectrum including, Regulatory bodies, Industry associations and Chambers of Commerce. Lynn is a well-known and established ambassador in these areas having led on many strategic programmes to aid engagement, growth, retention, change management, stakeholder and political engagement.

Meghna is a lawyer with deep experience in media and emerging technology. Previously, she worked on legal and policy strategy at the Walt Disney Company. Before Disney, she set up and led the India office for Consensys, the world’s largest blockchain technology company.

Biodata of Mrs. Nidhi Khare, IAS (JH:1992)

• She is an Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officer of 1992 batch.
• Presently working as Secretary to Government of India looking after the Department of Consumer Affairs. She has also worked as Secretary, Department of Land Resources and Ministry of New & Renewable Energy.
• Born in Jammu on 12th February 1968, completed her studies at Dehradun and Lucknow, done her Masters in Biochemistry.
• Has served as District Collector in Madhubani, Jamshedpur and Dumka in the Indian States of Bihar and Jharkhand.

Experience in the Government of India  (2008 to 2015 & 2018 to till date)

• Presently posted as Secretary, Department of Consumer Affairs, Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food & Public Distribution w.e.f. 1^st April 2024.
• Earlier she has worked as Secretary, Department of Land Resources, Ministry of Rural Development. Was actively engaged in carrying out next level of transformation in Land Records Management and bringing transparency for the citizens in land administration.
• She has served in various capacities in the Department of Consumer Affairs, Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food & Public Distribution, where she was instrumental in setting up of Central Consumer Protection Authority (CCPA), a regulatory body set up for class action against violations of Consumer Rights, Unfair Trade Practices, and Misleading Advertisement. As its first Chief Commissioner, she initiated more than 419 cases and disposed off 141 cases that included refund to consumers whose flight tickets got cancelled during COVID lockdown, imposing penalty against major Coaching Institutes, online platforms for selling faulty sub-standard pressure cookers etc.
• She was instrumental in issuing several Guidelines and Advisories to keep a check on unfair trade practices and misleading ads. These address misleading advertisements, service charges, dark patterns, greenwashing, coaching sector ads, and illegal radio equipment. Advisories cover misleading COVID-19 claims, mandatory seller disclosures, illegal jammers, sale of traditional medicines without prescriptions, car seat belt alarm stoppers, and prohibition of endorsing unlawful activities like betting. These measures together enhanced transparency, accountability, and consumer trust.
• Under her leadership, the Department of Consumer Affairs launched the Right to Repair Portal India in 2022, covering Automobiles, Consumer Durables, Mobile & Electronics, and Farming Equipment. So far, 66 major companies have joined to provide manuals, tools, and resources supporting a shift toward a circular economy. Subsequently, a Repairability Index framework for the Mobile and Electronics sector, is being worked out, developing a standardized scoring method for OEMs to self-declare their index, promoting mindful consumption, innovation, and consumer choice.
• Furthermore, in a bid to empower consumers to get speedy, hassle-free redressal of consumer grievances, she has strengthened redressal at pre-litigation stage, which is served through a toll free 24*4 system.
• Apart from Consumer Protection, she was actively engaged at the transformation of the Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) and National Test House (NTH) with setting up of world class testing laboratories and making mandatory hallmarking for gold ornaments.
• Served as Joint Secretary in Ministry of Home Affairs, Ministry of Environment, Forest & Climate Change and Department of Expenditure, Ministry of Finance.
• As Joint Secretary (DBT), she was instrumental in conceptualizing and implementing the nationally acclaimed programme of Direct Benefit Transfers (DBT), wherein subsidies for LPG and other entitlements such as Scholarships, Pensions and wages etc. started reaching millions of beneficiaries seamlessly, without the middlemen, into their bank accounts.

Experience in State Government (Jharkhand)

• As Secretary (Commercial Taxes) (2015 to 2016), she tried to bring ease to the dealers by simplifying taxation and curbing evasion of tax through the use of Business Intelligence. She worked for implementation of GST framework.
• As Principal Secretary, Health and Medical Education, (From March 2018 onwards), she successfully implemented countrywide rollout of Ayushman Bharat from Jharkhand. 8 New Medical Colleges were opened. NITI Aayog appreciated Jharkhand for the fastest growth in Health Sector.

Nitin is a dual qualified lawyer enrolled to practice in India; England & Wales. Nitin has multi-jurisdictional experience of advising diverse entities across multiple jurisdiction such as US, Canada, UK, Singapore, UAE etc.

Nitin’s focus area is regulatory, disputes, and general corporate commercial laws, within Telecom, Media and Technology (TMT), Energy, Oil & Gas, Aviation and Infrastructure sectors. He advises multifarious entities with respect to the policy, regulatory and legal framework in the country to facilitate investments and compliances. Some of the key aspects handled/negotiated/advised, include, investments, mergers & acquisitions (including FDI), licensing, spectrum allocation, spectrum sharing & trading, commercial arrangements, regulatory compliances, fraud investigation, claims against the government, and strategic advice including representing companies before various governmental, regulatory and legal fora. He also advises companies on certain highly niche areas of law, such as outer space, undersea cabling, and privacy & data protection.

Nitin has also worked inhouse internationally with a multi-billion dollar tech company (subsidiary of a chinese tech conglomerate), where he advised cum assisted the management on US, China and EU laws & regulations around company’s business and technology; undertook setting up of start-ups in foreign jurisdictions (eg. Canada, US and EU) et al. He has extensive experience around drafting & negotiating contracts.

He also appears before diverse fora including the Supreme Court of India; High Courts of various states; and several regulatory & their appellate bodies (such as telecom, energy, competition, environment, aviation, et al). Nitin has various publications in telecom journals and has worked in India, UK and Dubai.

Work Experience

Nitin was previously ‘Vice President Legal & Regulatory at Media.net FZ-LLC, Dubai (subsidiary of Beijing Miteno Communication Technology Co. Ltd.). Prior to Media.net, he was a Partner with Regulatory & Policy team at J. Sagar Associates (Delhi).

Education/Courses

LL.M. (2007), Kings College London (U.K)
LL.B. (2004), University of Delhi (India)
B.COM (2001), University of Delhi (India)

Languages

English & Hindi

Bio coming soon…

Mr Pratompong Srinuan serves as the Executive Director of the Policy Assessment Bureau at the Office of the NBTC in Thailand. In this role, his main responsibilities included conducting spectrum valuation and setting reserved prices for several IMT bands and FM radio. Recently, he conducted research on demand for mobile broadband bandwidth in Thailand and a study on the impacts of spectrum auctions on firms’ investment.

Previously, Mr Pratompong held the position of senior expert economist and played a key role to formulating telecom policy and market design. He has been involved to various working committees within the NBTC, contributing to the sustainable development of both telecommunications and broadcasting industries through regulatory policies, including spectrum auction design, MVNO regulation enforcement, and telecom wholesale market regulations.

Mr Pratompong earned his PhD in Economics as a government scholar from Chalmers University of Technology in Gothenburg, Sweden.

Priya Mahajan is the Head of Asia Pacific Public Policy & Regulatory Counsel where she is responsible for strategic-level regulatory and policy advice regarding Verizon’s operations in Asia Pacific. Ms Mahajan previously served as Chief Counsel for Verizon-India where she led legal, regulatory & policy matters pertaining to India operations.

Her expertise includes consulting and advising on a range of telecom, media and technology matters. In her policy role, she works closely with the stakeholder’s policy makers, regulators and trade associations to build, support and promote the company’s policy position on ICT issues. She has successfully led policy efforts related to regulatory simplification, market access, digital trade, anti-trust, data protection & Cyber Security policy across the region.

Ms Mahajan holds honorary position at Executive Body of the Asia Pacific Carriers Coalition (APCC), an industry advocacy body representing the interest of global carriers, closely working with the policy makers in the Asia Pacific Region. She is a founding member of the Society of Women Lawyers (SoWL), a mentoring and professional platform for women lawyers in India.

Ms Mahajan is a qualified attorney, an Associate member of Institute of Company Secretaries of India. She has also attended the Accelerated Management Programme (AMP) at the Indian School of Business, Hyderabad

As SVP of Technology – Data Preparation at Nielsen, Rahul oversees the technologies powering Nielsen’s core audience measurement currency across platforms such as TV, radio, OTT and social media.

Before joining Nielsen, Rahul held leadership positions at various global organisations. At Visa, he developed technologies that helped global banks and financial institutions understand and target customers based on their transactions within the Visa network. Rahul’s work at Amazon involved managing systems that ensured Amazon’s vast product selection and price competitiveness across more than 25 marketplaces.

Rahul is passionate about technology and its ethical application to improve lives. Currently, Rahul is focused on exploring and understanding the genuine applications of AI, aiming to move beyond the prevailing hype.

In addition to his professional pursuits, Rahul is an avid reader and traveler who enjoys engaging with diverse cultures. He firmly believes that people are fundamentally similar regardless of their geographical location.

Rahul Vatts is Chief Regulatory Officer at Bharti Airtel Limited, a leading global telecommunications company with operations in 18 countries across Asia and Africa & ranks amongst the top 3 mobile service providers globally in terms of subscribers.

Rahul is a Telecom veteran since inception of Private participation in Industry in India in 1995. With nearly 25 years of experience, Rahul is an expert on Telecom Licensing, Economic Regulations, Spectrum management, new Technologies like M2M& IoT and Regulatory litigation and firmly believes that Regulatory policy should always aim for leveraging benefits for all key stakeholders in the ecosystem viz. Consumer, Service providers, Vendors and the Government. His domain expertise on Regulatory & business strategy has been extensively used by various International partners in past such as Axiata in Malaysia, Indosat in Indonesia & Dialog in Sri Lanka.

Rahul holds an Engineering degree in Telecommunications from University of Pune and is an alumni of IIM-Ahmedabad and The Wharton School, Pennsylvania. Rahul is also, currently the Executive Committee member of the Cellular Operators Association of India (COAI), Chairman of COAI Legal committee and Co-Chair of the COAI Regulatory committee and has been a Governing Council member of various Telecom standardization bodies in India.

Rajesh Mahapatra has been, at various points over the last 30 years, a journalist, political analyst, public policy expert, influencer and newsroom leader.

He has held key positions at leading news organisations such as the Press Trust of India, Hindustan Times and the Associated Press.

Rajesh was Editor of PTI until August 2023. Before that, he was with Hindustan Times for 11 years, where he led digital innovation and organisational change as its Executive Editor and Chief Content Officer.

Prior to HT, Rajesh worked with the Associated Press as Business Writer, South Asia. In his early years in journalism, he worked for Bridge News (formerly Knight Ridder Financial Services) and The Observer of Business and Politics.

Rajesh has a proven record in handling large organisations, possesses strong analytical skills and demonstrates appetite for risk. He is good at managing people, spotting and harnessing talent. He also has years of experience in teaching and training.

A native of Odisha, Rajesh studied at Delhi University and the Jawaharlal Nehru University. He holds an M.Phil in Economics, with specialisation in political economy and development planning.

As someone who grew up in Odisha’s outback, before moving to Delhi for higher education, Rajesh’s social background serves him well in connecting with the ‘other India’. He is conversant with several languages and has an evolved understanding of India’s social and cultural diversity.

During the pandemic, Rajesh founded the Odisha Dialogues, an Odisha-focussed research and advocacy forum. He is also the founder editor of The Secretariat (www.thesecretariat.in) that offers exclusive and well-researched policy analyses and insights.

Currently, he advises organisations on digital transformation, strategic communication, and regularly participates in public discourses on key national and international issues.

Dr. Ravi Gandhi is President and Chief Public Policy & Regulatory Officer at Reliance Jio Infocomm Limited, India’s leading digital services provider.

Dr. Gandhi is a distinguished leader in the telecommunications sector with over three decades of exceptional expertise in public policy, telecom regulation, and network operations. With his adeptness in navigating complex technology and policy landscapes, he has consistently enabled organizations to excel and adapt in a rapidly changing environment.

Dr. Gandhi has previously served as Chief Regulatory Officer at Bharti Airtel Limited and, as an officer of the Indian Telecom Services (ITS), held key positions in the Department of Telecommunications, Government of India. He is renowned for his visionary strategies that transform policy challenges into opportunities for growth and innovation. He exemplifies the powerful combination of technical expertise and strategic foresight, driving innovation and meaningful societal impact.

Dr. Gandhi holds a Ph.D. from IIT Delhi and a B.Tech from NIT Kurukshetra.

Sachin Kakkar is Google India site lead for Privacy, Safety, and Security , where he drives the mission to keep everyone safe at scale—building solutions that protect billions of people globally. With over 24 years of experience in R&D and engineering leadership, Sachin holds 12 patents in areas such as online content classification, digital media assignment, and self-healing systems. He has also authored 10+ international publications.

Prior to Google, Sachin served as the India Site Lead for Trust Organization at LinkedIn–Microsoft, where he led large-scale Trust platforms, Spam Protection at Scale, and global compliance initiatives including GDPR, DMA, and CCPA.

He holds a Master’s degree in AI & ML from Georgia Tech and an MBA from IIM. At his core, he’s driven by a passion for building technology that serves people — safely, responsibly, and at scale.

Dr. Sameer Guduru is currently Director for Strategic Technologies at the United States India Business Council, US Chamber of Commerce. He was previously with the Ministry of External Affairs as a Fellow with the New Emerging & Strategic Technologies (NEST) Division. He is a physicist by training with his Doctorate from Politecnico di Milano (PoliMi) & Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia (IIT), Italy & later pursued postdoctoral research at Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS) in Marseille, France, both in ultrafast laser microfabrication. He also has Master’s Degree in International Studies from Symbiosis University, Pune, India.

Sandeep is Group Director & Head of Public Policy & Government Affairs @ Microsoft India & South Asia.

Sandeep is responsible for driving a cohesive policy framework to accelerate the adoption of new technologies for the benefit of the country. He leads initiatives around public policy and is specially focused on policies towards Artificial Intelligence, cybersecurity & building a safe / secure internet. Sandeep is a firm believer in the public – private collaboration model to accelerate adoption of forward-looking policies and has worked in various leadership roles at Intel & IESA before Microsoft.

Shahana Chatterji is a Partner with the Public Policy and Regulatory Affairs team at the Firm. Prior to Shardul Amarchand Mangaldas & Co, she has worked with S&R Associates, New Delhi and the U.S. Congress, Washington D.C.

Shahana has been deeply involved with policy and regulatory issues both in India and in the United States. She has worked with a Representative at the U.S. Congress, Washington D.C., engaging in expansive legislative and policy matters ranging from healthcare to financial reforms. Before working with the U.S. Congress, she worked extensively on capital markets and corporate finance transactions and advised clients on foreign investment and financial regulatory issues here in India.

She currently works on a range of regulatory matters with a specialization in data and emerging technology, and technology aspects of the highly regulated sectors in India (such as healthcare and financial services). With an unparalleled understanding of law and policy making processes, she provides cutting edge solutions involving law making and legal and regulatory assistance on all data governance and emerging technology issues. She has also been at the forefront of significant developments in the highly regulated sectors in India and she uses this expertise to inform her advice on data governance issues as they interplay with these sectors.

As part of her specialization, Shahana has worked closely with the world’s largest technology, internet and data intensive companies and has led matters relating to data privacy, data processing and cross border data transfers, use of regulated data such as Aadhaar data, online advertising, online speech and content regulation, intermediary liability, cybersecurity, public procurement of technology, development and deployment of enterprise solutions and digital products, e-commerce and telecom regulations.

She also provides strategic advice on emerging and disruptive technologies and solutions including AI solutions in the healthcare sector, BFSI sector, IoT solutions etc.

She has been spending her time leading critical matters for her clients and providing thought leadership for the industry on the recent Digital Personal Data Protection Bill 2023, which resulted from the Justice Srikrishna Expert Committee and the nation-wide consultations it held. Shahana has not only been instrumental in the formulation of the industry points of view to the recent legislation, she has also presented industry viewpoints on the Personal Data Protection Bill, 2019 and has deposed before the Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) set up to analyse and revise the proposed draft of the data protection bill in India.

Finally, she has led the data protection aspects of some of the largest transactions in the field of technology in recent times, including Meta’s (erstwhile Facebook) biggest FDI investment of US$ 5.7 billion in Reliance Jio, which was recognised among the “star deals” in the India Business Law Journal Deals of the Year 2020. Shahana is among one of the key active partners in the firm in terms of media interactions and regularly contribute articles on policy and regulatory affairs in various leading journals and newspapers.

Sharat Chander is currently Director of Public Policy at Samsung.

Sharat is a former civil servant from the 1999 batch of the Indian Information Service – one of the elite civil services in India.

In the course of a 21-year stint with the Union Government, he worked on several prestigious assignments, including as Officer on Special Duty to the Prime Minister Modi from 2014 to 2019, leading official communication and media engagement for the Prime Minister. He also served as Director in the Election Commission of India, heading the voter awareness, accessibility, and media policy divisions. In an earlier stint at India’s public television channel – Doordarshan News – he was Business and Economic Affairs Editor for the channel, and Head of Assignment.

Switching to the corporate sector, Sharat led public policy for India & South Asia, at Uber, and was Asia-Pacific Head of Public Policy at Coursera, before his current assignment. He has been a visiting faculty at IIM Ahmedabad and IIT Roorkee.

An architect by training, Sharat is an alumnus of IIT Roorkee, IIM Lucknow and School of Planning and Architecture (SPA, Delhi). He was awarded the prestigious Budhiraja Gold Medal for best all-round performance at IIM Lucknow, and the School of Planning of Architecture Gold Medal for best student of Building Engineering and Management.

As co-founder of the DeepTech for Bharat Foundation, Shashi champions India’s AI ecosystem through the ‘AI4India’ initiative. He holds several pivotal roles, including as the Chairperson of the Committee for Science & Technology Communication at the Department of Science and Technology (DST), Government of India, and Chairperson of the UGC’s Experts Committee on Educational Media.

He contributes governance expertise to various Boards including the Indian Institute of Mass Communications (IIMC), Jamia’s AJK Mass Communication & Media Research Center. He is also a Member of the Global Advisory Council to ATSC, International Broadcast Standards Organisation. As CEO of Prasar Bharati Shashi drove sweeping reforms at India’s public broadcaster, steering modernization of Doordarshan and All India Radio while concurrently leading Rajya Sabha TV.

An IIT Bombay alumnus, Shashi is also the author of ‘Collective Spirit Concrete Action – Mann ki Baat and its Influence on India’.

Shri. Sanjay Jaju comes from the 1992 batch of Indian Administrative Service. He has taken over the charge of Secretary, Ministry of Information & Broadcasting on 5th February, 2024.

Shri. Sanjay Jaju is a Post Graduate Mechanical Engineer and a Cost & Management Accountant by background and has completed MBA in Finance. He has worked in diverse areas like Defence, Urban, Infrastructure, Civil Supplies, Education, Tribal Welfare, Information Technology.

He worked as Additional Secretary in the Department of Defence Production in the Ministry of Defence in the Government of India and looked after the policies for bringing in investments and growth in Defence and Aerospace sectors to advance the “Make in India” resolve. He has also been instrumental in setting up Defence Innovation Organisation & iDEX for creating a collaborative platform for Startups to meet Defence requirements and has been conferred the prestigious Prime Minister’s Award for Excellence in Public Administration, 2021 on 21 April 2022 during the Civil Services Day. He played a huge role in successful corporatization of Ordnance Factory Board, a long pending reform needed to improve the functioning of these factories established over 200 years back.

He has been the founding Director of the National Highways & Infrastructure Development Corporation Limited (NHIDCL) in the Ministry of Road Transport & Highways, GoI to fast pace infrastructure creation on the borders and strategic areas.

He had earlier worked as Secretary to Government of Andhra Pradesh in Information Technology & Communications and Food and Civil Supplies Department and led the programme to complete Aadhaar registration of the residents of erstwhile Andhra Pradesh from start to finish.

He has been an ardent advocate of Information Technology for Development and Governance, he successfully led various projects – ‘MeeSeva’ a comprehensive flagship initiative for delivering host of G2C services in AP (2011), INAMPRO, INFRACON in NHIDCL (2017), DEFEXIM (2021). Many of these have been awarded National e-Governance Awards by Government of India.

He has worked as Municipal Commissioners in Hyderabad & Visakhapatnam.

Smrithi Ramesh is the Senior Manager Outreach for Asia Pacific Japan and China and is part of the public policy team at Cloudflare. She leads outreach efforts with law enforcement and other agencies in the region for Cloudflare as well as part of the team that manages engagement with APAC governments on tech policy issues. Within this remit, she has a particular focus on India, addressing its unique legislative landscape and evolving digital regulations.

A lawyer by education, she monitors various regulations, engages with government  agencies, law enforcement and other stakeholders with a practical understanding of the legislative process in the region. Prior to Cloudflare, she worked with various international organizations including having focussed on dispute resolution and alternative dispute resolution mechanisms including domain name dispute resolution in the Asia Pacific region.

Bio coming soon…

T.V. Ramachandran (aka TV) is currently the President of Broadband India Forum; Global Advisor, Future Tech Panel – IET (Institution of Engg. & Technology, London); and Founder & CEO of Advisory@TVR – a Consultancy in the ICT & TMT space.

TV has played a key role in Mobile Telecommunications in India, from its very advent in India in 1994. He was the 1st CEO of Sterling Cellular Ltd. (Essar Cellphone), Delhi, and led the establishment and successful launch of the largest Indian cellular network of that time (Sterling Cellular was incidentally a predecessor of what later became Vodafone India Ltd.).

TV moved on in end 1997, to establish and lead the industry body – Cellular Operators’ Association of India (COAI) and nurtured it to a position of strength over 12 years.

He thereafter served as Resident Director, Regulatory Affairs & Govt. Relations, Vodafone India, for over 5 years from October 2009 till December 2014.

TV is also:

• Honorary Fellow of the Institution of Engineering & Technology (IET) London, for his contributions to Mobile Telephony.
• Honorary Fellow of the Institution of Electronics & Telecommunication Engineers (India)

In March, 2015, at the Telecom Leadership Forum in Delhi, TVR was conferred the Voice & Data Lifetime Contribution Award for his contributions to Mobile Telephony in India.

In October 2017, the Government of India nominated him to serve as an expert member on the High-Level Government Forum for India 5G 2020.

TVR is also currently serving on the Hon’ble MoC’s Strategic Advisory Committee (SAC) on ISPs and IPs.

Tapan Kumar Patra has been Director of ACTO for over 11 years and has played key roles working with the policy makers and regulators for the benefit of TSPs/ISPs, end users and government. Prior to ACTO he worked for over two decades in telecom R&D: 10 years with C-DOT – Telecom R&D centre of Govt of India with main focus on telecom product development for rural areas. He also spent 10 years in telecom R&D, primarily with Tellabs, a global MNC known for high end telecom products, where he was centre head of the Tellabs Offshore development site at Gurgaon. Education: B. Tech and LL.B

Tony’s practice largely focuses on corporate matters in various industrial sectors with a specialized focus on companies in the telecommunication and technology sectors. He handles complex regulatory assignments (advisory & licensing) in the telecom sector, merger & acquisitions, commercial contractual reviews, due diligence exercises, foreign investment related matters, real estate, employment law matters and multifaceted commercial negotiations on behalf of various clients.

His practice areas include advising clients on setting up business in India, day-to-day business operations, corporate compliance, licensing and regulatory matters. In addition, Tony regularly advises on all types of commercial and corporate contracts.

His experience over more than two decades in the Telecom and Information Technology (IT) sector involves providing regulatory advice, on setting up highly regulated businesses in India involving licensing, contracting, technology licensing agreements, advice on setting up STPI’s (Software Technology Parks of India) and SEZ’s (Special Economic Zone) and general legal issues involving Telecom and IT companies.

Over an illustrious career spanning 27+ years, Umang has pioneered in RAN & Transport technologies for mobile service providers across geographies and helped them enable seamless connectivity and delightful customer experience.

Umang is currently spearheading all RAN technologies 6G, 5G, 4G, Open RAN software and monetization efforts in India, Southeast Asia and Oceania.

A result-oriented partner to customers, he drives Telecom network performance objectives and total cost optimization goals for the service providers.

Vibha Mehra serves as the Vice President of Nokia, leading Public Policy and Government Affairs for the Asia Pacific region. With over 25 years of extensive experience, she has built a distinguished career in the ICT industry, primarily collaborating with Government.

Before joining Nokia, she held key leadership roles driving government business, strategy development, and business execution across major corporations in Information Technology, Industrial IoT, IT Hardware, and Services. Her professional journey includes esteemed organizations such as Microsoft, TCS, Wipro, Intel, and General Electric.

Passionate about fostering diversity, she actively mentors ‘Women in Technology’ within her organization and the industry. Additionally, she serves as the POSH presiding officer for Nokia’s Gurgaon site.

Vibha holds a Management degree along with a Bachelor’s degree from Mumbai University. Beyond her corporate responsibilities, she is committed to supporting education initiatives for underprivileged children and has spent the past decade aiding community schools in delivering quality primary education.

Vibodh Parthasarathi has been at the forefront of media policy research in India since 2005. With a Masters from Erasmus University, and a Ph.D. from University of Helsinki, he maintains a multidisciplinary interest across media regulation, digital transitions, and policy literacy.

Prof. Parthasarathi has won research grants from Ford Foundation, Canada’s IDRC, Social Science Research Council, India-New Zealand Education Council, and University Grants Commission; been invited as a visiting scholar by University of Queensland, KU Leuven, University of Helsinki, IIT Bombay, and Lund University; and, collaborated with academics and policymakers in Australia, South Africa, Belgium, France, Sweden, UK, and USA.

Besides his 50 publications in journals and books, his edited works include the best-selling Platform Capitalism in India (Palgrave, 2020), and the critically  acclaimed  double-volume Indian Media Economy (Oxford University Press, 2018). Prof. Parthasarathi’s innovations in the teaching of media governance have been significantly featured in Pedagogy in Practice (Bloomsbury, 2022).

Actively contributing to growing the media policy ecosystem, he is involved with institutions such as Media and Journalism Research Centre, and The Media Foundation; publishers such as MIT Press, and Oxford University Press; and, scientific journals including Platforms & Society (SAGE), and Journal of Digital Media and Policy (Intellect).

Since 2023, his research has focused on the online video market in India, and the globally emerging field of media infrastructures. His work is available @Academia

Vineeta Dixit is a public policy leader with over 30 years of experience driving strategic outcomes at the intersection of technology, tourism, and regulation. She currently leads Government Affairs for Spotify across APAC, where she develops and executes public policy strategies that support innovation, growth, and meaningful stakeholder engagement.

Previously, Vineeta worked at Airbnb, Google, and the Ministry for Electronics and IT, Government of India. With an academic foundation in social policy from the London School of Economics, she is passionate about shaping policies that create real-world impact through collaboration, advocacy, and thoughtful dialogue.

Vishwanathan Subramaniam is the Deputy Manager – Public Policy & Advocacy for Lightstorm, a connectivity infrastructure provider in Asia-Pacific. He plays a strategic role in aligning India’s evolving policy and regulatory landscape with the connectivity demands of data centre, cloud, and AI infrastructure. With a background in law and public policy, he focuses on enabling the development of scalable, future-ready connectivity ecosystems that power innovation and economic growth in a sustainable manner. Along with the policy domain, he also leads the community impact initiatives for Lightstorm in India.

Vivan Sharan is a partner in Koan Advisory Group, a technology policy consulting firm based in New Delhi. He works on the political economy of technology markets and advises Fortune 500 companies, international organizations and governments. He is also the author of “Wonked!: India in Search of an Economic Ideology”, published by Bloomsbury in 2019; and co-author of “The Dazzle of the Digital: Unbundling India Online”, published by Routledge in 2022.