About IndiaSpend
IndiaSpend is the country’s first data journalism initiative. We utilize open data to analyze a range of issues with the broader objective of fostering better governance, transparency and accountability in the Indian government. Founded in late 2011 by Govindraj Ethiraj, a television and print journalist and former Founder Editor-in-Chief of Bloomberg TV India, IndiaSpend is rapidly growing to become to become an `agency of record’ when it comes to data and facts on the Indian economy, particularly in areas like education and healthcare as well as data on the states of India.
Given the general nature of hard data, not just in India but worldwide, we feel there is a need and an opportunity to focus on critical data that can help the country at large take objective views on important policy issues and foster data-led discussion and analysis. We do believe this will become more important in coming years as citizens become a more active part of the governance process. A twin objective is also to make the use of data exciting and a first recourse for young India, rather than opinion, by utilizing various social media sources to reach this population.
IndiaSpend is a non-profit and a project of The Spending & Policy Research Foundation located in Lower Parel in Mumbai, and registered as a Charitable Trust with the Charity Commissioner, Mumbai.
Trustees
Govindraj Ethiraj is Founder & Managing Trustee of IndiaSpend. A television & print journalist, he is former Founder-Editor in Chief of Bloomberg TV India, a 24-hour business news service launched out of Mumbai in 2008. He also worked for over five years with television station CNBC-TV18, from near start-up point in 2000. He has worked in the digital space – with Business Standard as head of new media – as well as traditional print, at The Economic Times, Business World & Business India magazines. His articles presently appear in the Business Standard newspaper and Forbes India online. He recently concluded a one-year public service assignment with the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI), a Indian Government initiative to issue over a billion biometric identities. He is a Fellow of The Aspen Institute, Colorado.
Email: govindraj@indiaspend.org
Praveen Chakravarty is a senior financial services professional of repute, public policy enthusiast and an active angel investor. He is currently the CEO of Anand Rathi Advisors, a growth focused investment bank. Prior to his current role, he was on an assignment with the Unique Identity Authority of India (UIDAI) set up under the Chairmanship of Mr. Nandan Nilekani by the Government of India. Mr. Chakravarty is a frequent contributor to opinion-editorial columns of leading newspapers. Mr. Praveen received his MBA degree from the Wharton School and his undergraduate degree from BITS, Pilani.
Email: praveen@indiacentral.net
Kumaar Bagrodia is the CEO of LeapVault a knowledge media and talent development company he founded. He is an executive & entrepreneur coach, facilitator, speaker and the principal consultant for Who Moved My Cheese in India. He is the founder of the CLO Chief Learning Officers Summit India. Prior to this he has worked with companies like Infosys and WNS in various roles. He holds an MBA from Oxford University, UK and is a country champion and ambassador for the Oxford Business Alumni in India. He firmly believes in the impact of ‘intellectually directed philanthrophy.
Email: kb@indiaspend.org
Our Team
Dr Julie Hudman, Director of Research: Dr. Hudman’s last assignment was the first Director of the Department of Health Care Finance (DHCF) for the District of Columbia, created by Mayor Adrian Fenty in October 2008. This $2 billion agency provided health insurance to over one third of Washington DC residents.
Earlier, she worked with the Kaiser Foundation & Universities focusing on data and policy analysis of large central government healthcare programmes. She also developed public communications strategies, including creating a series of videos to help policymakers, press and the general public understand low-income populations’ health care coverage and access. Dr. Hudman received her Ph.D from the Johns Hopkins University School of Hygiene & Public Health, her M.P.P. from Georgetown University and her B.A. from University of Oklahoma.
Email: julie@indiaspend.org
Jyothi Shankaran, Managing Editor: His last role was as Senior Editor with the business news channel Bloomberg TV India. He also worked as Editor (New Media) and News Editor at business-standard.com, the online version of the business newspaper Business Standard. Jyothi graduated as a chemical engineer from Regional Engineering College, Srinagar.
Email: jyothi@indiaspend.org
Sourjya Bhowmick, Policy Analyst/Writer: Is a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science, Presidency College, Calcutta (Now Presidency University) and a Masters in Political Science, Calcutta University 2009. Prior to joining IndiaSpend in August 2011, he worked with IIM Bangalore as an Academic Associate from June 2010 to June 2011. He also worked as a Research Associate For Government of West Bengal Project “The Emerging Scenario of Agri Business In West Bengal: A Sociological Enquiry”
Email: sourjya@indiaspend.org
Danielle Collaco, Copy Editor/Writer/Data Visualiser: Has done a Post Graduate Diploma in Journalism from the Asian College of Journalism in Chennai (2008) and has also done a Bachelor of Arts degree in English Literature from St Xavier’s College in Goa. Danielle worked in the news broadcast industry (Bloomberg TV India) for almost 3 years. She has produced a variety of shows from live news bulletins to feature shows.
Email: danielle@indiaspend.org
Prachi Salve, Policy Analyst/Writer: Has got two masters degrees. The first one was in Economics from Mumbai University and the second one was in Development Studies from the University of Sussex, UK. Prachi has done her Bachelors in Economics from St Xaviers College in Mumbai. She has been a research assistant at Institute of Development Studies (UK) and the Young Foundation (UK). Prachi has also worked for Greenpeace India in the fund raising division.
Email: prachi@indiaspend.org
Saumya Tewari, Policy Analyst/Writer: Has done a Bachelor of Arts from the Isabella Thoburn College (2006) and a Masters in Political Science from the University of Luchnow (2008). She also qualified for the University Grants Commission’s National Eligibility Test in 2008. Saumya has worked as faculty on leave vacancy in the Department of Political Science and Public Administration at the Kumaun University in Nainital during 2010-2011. She holds a PG Diploma in Governance, Democratisation and Public Policy from the Institute of Social Studies, The Hague, Netherlands (2012)
Email: saumya@indiaspend.org
CONTRIBUTORS:
Dhritiman Gupta: Has done a Bachelor of Arts in Economics from Jadavpur University, Kolkata. He has also done a double Masters in Economics. The first one was at Delhi School of Economics (2009) and the second one was at Toulouse School of Economics, France (2011). He has taught in Khalsa College, Delhi University as adhoc lecturer.
Email: dhritiman@indiaspend.org
Tina Edwin: A business journalist with more than 18 years of experience.working with publications such as The Economic Times, The Financial Express and The Pioneer. Her last role was as senior assistant editor with The Economic Times, writing for its Sunday edition. She has reported widely on government’s economic policy, corporate law.and tracked data. She is a commerce graduate from Delhi University. She is now a Delhi-based freelance journalist.
Email: tinaedwin@yahoo.com
Manika Premsingh is an economist and founded Orbis Economics three years ago with the aim of providing research on the economy. She has over a decade of experience researching the macro-economy for the government, investment banks, media and non-profits, among others, which includes organisations like the Planning Commission, Deutsche Bank and the Economic Times. She regularly shares her views on the economy through written media articles and talks at conferences and at educational institutions.
Email: manika.premsingh@orbiseconomics.com
Anupam Gupta is a Chartered Accountant and has worked as an equity research analyst in domestic and foreign brokerages based in Mumbai. Over his 14-year career, he has tracked sectors such as automobiles and telecom and last tracked macro-economic strategy. Prior to sell-side equity research, he worked as a consultant for two years for a credit rating agency and a mutual fund.