Jury Members
Dr. Sunil Kumar Chaudhary
Dr. Sunil Kumar Chaudhary ("Dr. Chaudhary") has worked as a Chairman and Managing Director of Ircon International Limited (“Ircon”) from Oct 2016 to April 2021. He holds a B.Sc. Engineering (Civil) degree from the Delhi University, as well as an M. Tech (Management & System) from the Indian Institute of Technology, New Delhi. He has been awarded a Doctorate from the Kalinga Institute of Industrial Technology (KIIT), Bhubaneswar, and also holds a Post Graduate Diploma in Alternate Dispute Resolution from the Indian Law Institute.
He started his career with Ircon and has been with Ircon for over 23 years in various capacities. He joined Ircon as an Assistant Engineer (Civil) and worked on various national and international projects, as well as on marketing and business development. Sh. Chaudhary has also worked with National Buildings Construction Corporation Limited (“NBCC”) as Director (Projects) for a period of 3 years. At NBCC, he oversaw the implementation and monitoring of projects in various segments of operation, namely Project Management Consultancy, EPC contracts, and real estate market. During his tenure, NBCC grew in reputation in the construction industry and the market cap of NBCC increased 10 folds.
Dr. Chaudhary has also worked with Housing and Urban Development Corporation Limited ("HUDCO") as Sr. Executive Director/Executive Director (Projects) for nearly 7.5 years. Therein, he was involved in the formation of joint ventures, business development, sanctioning and disbursement of funds and monitoring of various HUDCO-funded projects.
He has over 39 years of experience in the field of infrastructure projects such as highways, railways, airports, flyovers, bridges, tunnels, buildings, etc. He also has experience in international market and finance appraisal, project feasibility studies, global tendering, project finance, etc. SK Chaudhary has handled many national and international tendering works which were funded by the World Bank, ADB, etc. SK Chaudhary has also worked extensively in various South-East Asian and Middle Eastern countries like Thailand, Indonesia, Malaysia, Bangladesh, Kuwait and Iraq, and therefore, is conversant with requirements of these regions.
Dr. Chaudhary has significant experience in the execution of work under FIDIC condition of contract, BIS/International standards and ISO 9002 quality systems. He is also abreast with optimum utilization of construction equipment and manpower, construction sequence, construction methodology, measurement scheduling, billings, cash flows, costing and project monitoring.
He has extensive experience in the field of arbitration. Due to his considerable expertise and in-depth knowledge of the intricacies of the construction and infrastructure industry, he has been a prime candidate for acting as an arbitrator in construction-related disputes, and has been involved in the successful adjudication of several complex arbitrations. He has also been nominated as an arbitrator on the panel of various arbitral institutions, such as the Indian Council of Arbitration, the Indian Institution of Technical Arbitrators and the Construction Industry Arbitration Council. He holds a distinct pedigree in negotiations, conflict resolution, and dispute resolution.
Dr. Chaudhary is the recipient of various awards and honours, and has been recognized for rendering exemplary services in the field of construction, engineering and technology. He is also an esteemed member of numerous professional bodies, such as the All India Management Association, the BRICS Chamber of Commerce, the Indian Building Congress, to name a few.
Amit Kumar
Mr. Kumar is a Mechanical Engineer with specialization in thermal engineering from University of Roorkee (now Indian Institute of Technology, Roorkee) where he was awarded the University Gold Medal.
As Senior Director, Social Transformation, he was responsible for initiatives focusing on energy access, holistic rural development, and community engagement. Earlier, Mr. Kumar had also led research activities in the fields of renewable energy and resource efficient process technology applications in TERI.
He has been working on the development and diffusion of cleaner and renewable energy resources based technological solutions in India for over 35 years. His experience ranges from policy and programme formulation, through project implementation, to the design and development of renewable-energy technologies, as well as manufacturing of solar energy devices. His exposure combines different facets of renewable energy industry as well as research domain.
Mr. Kumar was actively involved in projects related to the development of Sri Lanka's policy framework for renewable resource based electricity generation and the integrated energy management master plan for Bhutan, in addition to coordinating part of a multi-country GEF-supported study to assess solar and wind resources in developing countries. He has also managed design, construction and commissioning of one of the largest solar ponds in the world, at Bhuj in western India from 1987 to 1996, as well as Asia's first solar powered cold storage in the early eighties. Besides leading the initiative to develop solar-biomass based cold storage-cum-power generation systems for decentralized, rural applications, he has also been working on a programme for accelerated usage of biomass-based clean energy solutions in the rural villages and micro, small, and medium enterprises.
He is actively involved in taking forward South - South cooperation in Africa and the Pacific Island countries. In his capacity as the Regional Programme Advisor, REEEP (Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency Partnership) South Asia Secretariat; he oversees REEEP activities in the region. He has travelled widely as an invited expert.
Mr Kumar is also coordinating SE4All Capacity Building Hub; one of the global hubs of the UN supported Sustainable Energy for All initiative (SE4All).
As Dean (Distance & Short Term Education), TERI University between 2014 and 2016, Mr. Kumar was responsible for development and outreach of University’s online courses, management & faculty development programmes, and other skill enhancement initiatives.
Mitali Nikore
Mitali Nikore is a pioneering economist with 12 years of experience in gender-mainstreaming, development finance, policy advisory, and social entrepreneurship. She advises leading multilateral organizations such as ADB, UN Women, and the World Bank, as well as Government of India agencies. Her experience spans several countries in Africa, South Asia, the United States, and the United Kingdom.
In recognition of her work, Mitali was felicitated with the India UK Achievers Honours, celebrating the contributions of 75 young UK Indian students and alumni. She was selected as one of ‘She is: 75 Indian women in STEAM’ by the Government of India (2022) and named one of the 22For2022 industry leaders by Forbes magazine. She has been a speaker at several W20, U20, and B20 events during India’s G20 presidency and was the keynote speaker at the Global Solutions Summit 2022 by Think20 and Think7..
Mitali has also been a TEDx speaker and was recently named among the LinkedIn Top Voices for Gender Equality. She presented her paper on ‘Gender Budgeting in India: Pre and Post Covid-19 Analysis’ at the 30th Annual International Association for Feminist Economics Conference in Geneva. Additionally, she is a widely published researcher and writer with contributions to the Times of India, Hindustan Times, Indian Express, SheThePeople, and Financial Express. She has provided her expertise on multiple news segments, including BBC News, DW News, NDTV, ET Now, and India Ahead. Mitali holds a Master of Economics from the London School of Economics and Political Science and a Bachelor of Economics from the University of Delhi.
Aravind Kumar Mishra
Arvind Kumar Mishra is a highly experienced civil engineer with extensive expertise in hydroelectric power projects. He holds an M.Tech. in Soil Mechanics & Foundation Engineering from IIT Delhi and a B.E. in Civil Engineering from Madhav Institute of Technology & Science, Gwalior. His career spans several decades, with key roles including Managing Director at Mangdechhu Hydroelectric Project Authority in Bhutan, General Manager at NHPC Limited, and consultant positions at Megha Engineering & Infrastructure Limited and Bauer Engineering India. Mishra has been recognized with multiple awards, including the Druk Thuksey, Bhutan&s highest civilian honor, and the Brunel Medal for Excellence in Civil Engineering from the Institution of Civil Engineers, UK. He is an active member of numerous professional associations and has contributed significantly to the field through publications and academic engagements.
Sandeep Upadhyay
Sandeep Upadhyay is senior coverage banker currently serving as Managing Director - Infrastructure Advisory, Centrum Capital Ltd. He has around Nineteen years of extensive experience in Investment Banking & Corporate Finance Advisory focused on Infrastructure, Energy & Logistics Sectors with exposure of leading Private Equity, M&A, PIPE, IPO, Project Finance, Mezzanine Finance, Financial Restructuring, Insolvency & Bankruptcy transactions. Prior to Centrum, he has worked with SBI Capital Markets and IL&FS Group, in financial advisory and fund raising for marquee Infrastructure Projects in India.
He is an alumni of XLRI, Jamshedpur and recipient of the prestigious distinguished alumni award from the institution for his contribution in the space of Infrastructure Financing.
Dr. Sunil Kumar Chaudhary
Dr. Sunil Kumar Chaudhary ("Dr. Chaudhary") has worked as a Chairman and Managing Director of Ircon International Limited (“Ircon”) from Oct 2016 to April 2021. He holds a B.Sc. Engineering (Civil) degree from the Delhi University, as well as an M. Tech (Management & System) from the Indian Institute of Technology, New Delhi. He has been awarded a Doctorate from the Kalinga Institute of Industrial Technology (KIIT), Bhubaneswar, and also holds a Post Graduate Diploma in Alternate Dispute Resolution from the Indian Law Institute.
He started his career with Ircon and has been with Ircon for over 23 years in various capacities. He joined Ircon as an Assistant Engineer (Civil) and worked on various national and international projects, as well as on marketing and business development. Sh. Chaudhary has also worked with National Buildings Construction Corporation Limited (“NBCC”) as Director (Projects) for a period of 3 years. At NBCC, he oversaw the implementation and monitoring of projects in various segments of operation, namely Project Management Consultancy, EPC contracts, and real estate market. During his tenure, NBCC grew in reputation in the construction industry and the market cap of NBCC increased 10 folds.
Dr. Chaudhary has also worked with Housing and Urban Development Corporation Limited ("HUDCO") as Sr. Executive Director/Executive Director (Projects) for nearly 7.5 years. Therein, he was involved in the formation of joint ventures, business development, sanctioning and disbursement of funds and monitoring of various HUDCO-funded projects.
He has over 39 years of experience in the field of infrastructure projects such as highways, railways, airports, flyovers, bridges, tunnels, buildings, etc. He also has experience in international market and finance appraisal, project feasibility studies, global tendering, project finance, etc. SK Chaudhary has handled many national and international tendering works which were funded by the World Bank, ADB, etc. SK Chaudhary has also worked extensively in various South-East Asian and Middle Eastern countries like Thailand, Indonesia, Malaysia, Bangladesh, Kuwait and Iraq, and therefore, is conversant with requirements of these regions.
Dr. Chaudhary has significant experience in the execution of work under FIDIC condition of contract, BIS/International standards and ISO 9002 quality systems. He is also abreast with optimum utilization of construction equipment and manpower, construction sequence, construction methodology, measurement scheduling, billings, cash flows, costing and project monitoring.
He has extensive experience in the field of arbitration. Due to his considerable expertise and in-depth knowledge of the intricacies of the construction and infrastructure industry, he has been a prime candidate for acting as an arbitrator in construction-related disputes, and has been involved in the successful adjudication of several complex arbitrations. He has also been nominated as an arbitrator on the panel of various arbitral institutions, such as the Indian Council of Arbitration, the Indian Institution of Technical Arbitrators and the Construction Industry Arbitration Council. He holds a distinct pedigree in negotiations, conflict resolution, and dispute resolution.
Dr. Chaudhary is the recipient of various awards and honours, and has been recognized for rendering exemplary services in the field of construction, engineering and technology. He is also an esteemed member of numerous professional bodies, such as the All India Management Association, the BRICS Chamber of Commerce, the Indian Building Congress, to name a few.
Mitali Nikore
Mitali Nikore, a New Delhi-based economist, is a Development Consultant for the Indian Resident Mission of the Asian Development Bank and a short-term consultant to the World Bank. She also holds the position of Assistant Director at the School of Economics and Commerce, Adamas University. In addition, she is a Global Shaper with the New Delhi Hub of Global Shapers Community, an initiative of the World Economic Forum. She is also an advisor to the Steering Committee of BRICS CCI Young Leader. She also manages and publishes on a regular blog titled "Irrational Economics" as a Columnist with Times of India, and is a regular economics commentator on India Ahead News.
Focusing on infrastructure development, industries, MSMEs, and economic corridors, her work spans a wide range of sectors, both in South Asia and Africa, at the national and sub-national levels. Mitali has led research inquires on infrastructure financing gaps, gender-based discrimination, framing policy, and programmatic and project-level interventions. She is also a widely published researcher and writer with the Times of India, World SME News, Indian Express, and EPC World.
Anuj Puri
Anuj Puri is Chairman and Founder of ANAROCK. He has over 30 years' experience in Indian and global real estate markets and is a trusted adviser to developers, occupiers, investors and the government. Anuj is widely acknowledged with revolutionizing the sector with his visionary outlook and technology-based solutions.
Anuj set up ANAROCK in 2017 and under his leadership ANAROCK is now the largest independent residential agency in India with 1,500 staff across 15 offices and significant presence in GCC countries. ANAROCK has added new services to its offering to include retail, hospitality, investment banking, land services, strategic consulting, warehousing, industrial & logistics.
Prior to his current role, Anuj was Chairman and Country Head of JLL, India and a key member of the Asia Pacific Leadership Group and Head of the Global Retail Leasing Board.
Anuj has won numerous awards both within India & Internationally for his contribution to the real estate sector including demonstrating exemplary leadership qualities as 'Most Promising Business Leaders of Asia 2018-19' by Economic Times, 'Scroll of Honour' by Realty Plus Magazine and India Business Group Excellence Award 2019.
Anuj is a graduate of Shriram College of Commerce, New Delhi and a Fellow of the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors, UK. He serves on multiple public and private company boards and is affiliated to numerous organisations including FICCI, MCHI-CREDAI and YPO.
Amit Kumar
Mr. Kumar is a Mechanical Engineer with specialization in thermal engineering from University of Roorkee (now Indian Institute of Technology, Roorkee) where he was awarded the University Gold Medal.
As Senior Director, Social Transformation, he was responsible for initiatives focusing on energy access, holistic rural development, and community engagement. Earlier, Mr. Kumar had also led research activities in the fields of renewable energy and resource efficient process technology applications in TERI.
He has been working on the development and diffusion of cleaner and renewable energy resources based technological solutions in India for over 35 years. His experience ranges from policy and programme formulation, through project implementation, to the design and development of renewable-energy technologies, as well as manufacturing of solar energy devices. His exposure combines different facets of renewable energy industry as well as research domain.
Mr. Kumar was actively involved in projects related to the development of Sri Lanka’s policy framework for renewable resource based electricity generation and the integrated energy management master plan for Bhutan, in addition to coordinating part of a multi-country GEF-supported study to assess solar and wind resources in developing countries. He has also managed design, construction and commissioning of one of the largest solar ponds in the world, at Bhuj in western India from 1987 to 1996, as well as Asia's first solar powered cold storage in the early eighties. Besides leading the initiative to develop solar-biomass based cold storage-cum-power generation systems for decentralized, rural applications, he has also been working on a programme for accelerated usage of biomass-based clean energy solutions in the rural villages and micro, small, and medium enterprises.
He is actively involved in taking forward South - South cooperation in Africa and the Pacific Island countries. In his capacity as the Regional Programme Advisor, REEEP (Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency Partnership) South Asia Secretariat; he oversees REEEP activities in the region. He has travelled widely as an invited expert.
Mr Kumar is also coordinating SE4All Capacity Building Hub; one of the global hubs of the UN supported Sustainable Energy for All initiative (SE4All).
As Dean (Distance & Short Term Education), TERI University between 2014 and 2016, Mr. Kumar was responsible for development and outreach of University’s online courses, management & faculty development programmes, and other skill enhancement initiatives.
Sandeep Gulati
Mr. Gulati joined Egis India in November 2017 as the CFO – India and South Asia. In December 2018, he has been appointed the Managing Director of the company and to spearhead the future growth of the Egis Group in India.
He is a senior business leader with over 24 years’ experience. In his current role as MD of Egis India (Paris-headquartered global engineering company), he is driving multi-dimensional transformation of Indian Operations.
Prior to joining Egis, he has worked with Alcatel-Lucent as CFO, India and South Asia where his key challenge was to help the company consolidate its business in India and drive profitable growth. He was also responsible for driving process orientation, governance and compliance.
Mr. Gulati was part of the telecom industry for over 15 years and has worked in leadership positions with organizations such as Ericsson and Huawei. Outside telecom, he has been associated with companies such as Delphi Automotives/ General Motors Corporation and SRF.
Sandeep strongly believes in Collaborative style by empowering people. His commercial acumen enables him to drive top management strategy for Profitable growth based on a solid corporate governance structure. He leads Business transformation/restructuring initiatives (Mergers, Di-vestments, Business Re-Modelling), risk mitigation in ever evolving scenarios, developing and maintaining relationships with Government authorities, decision makers, Customers, bankers/investors, auditors, vendors and internal teams. He has extensive experience and is very comfortable in working across diverse nationalities and cultures (Indian, Chinese, European, American among others)
His emphasis is on devising long-term strategy and establishing flexible yet strong work processes to ensure that last-minute fire-fighting is not required. Due to his finance background he has his ability to look beyond the maze of data and make the numbers speak the truth.
A Chartered Accountant by profession, has imbibed the values of hard work and integrity from his father, who continues to be an inspiration for him. An avid sportsman, he enjoys outdoor activities and loves spending time with his mother, wife and son. He has been a celebrated cricketer in his college days and is a fitness enthusiast.