The National Institution for Transforming India, also called NITI Aayog, is the premier policy Think Tank of the Government of India, providing both directional and policy inputs, while designing strategic and long term policies and programmes for the Government of India. The NITI Aayog is developing itself as a state of the art resource centre, which will enable it to promote research and innovation and provide strategic policy vision for the government. Join us for a conversation with Arvind Panagariya, Vice Chairperson, NITI Aayog and Rajiv Lall, Founder Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer, IDFC Bank, as they speak about Panagariya's experiences at the NITI Aayog, India's role in the G20, and about recent policy reforms in the country.

Arvind Panagariya is the Vice-Chairman, Niti Aayog and has been Professor of Indian Political Economy at Columbia University. He is a former Chief Economist of the Asian Development Bank and Professor of Economics at the University of Maryland at College Park. He has also worked with the World Bank, IMF and UNCTAD in various capacities. Panagariya has authored more than fifteen books. His scientific papers have appeared in the top economics journals such as the American Economic Review and the Quarterly Journal of Economics while his policy papers have appeared in Foreign Affairs and Foreign Policy. In March 2012, the Government of India honoured Panagariya with Padma Bhushan, the third highest civilian honors the country bestows in any field.

Rajiv Lall is the Founder Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of IDFC Bank, he was the Executive Chairman of IDFC Limited until September 2015. He currently chairs the National Committee on Infrastructure Financing of the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII). He is a member of the Managing Committee of ASSOCHAM; the CII National Council on Financial Sector Development and the CII National Committee on Banking. Internationally, he is a member of the Advisory Board of Columbia Global Centers, South Asia, set up by the Columbia University. He is also on the International Advisory Board of the Centre for the Advanced Study of India at the University of Pennsylvania; and a member of the City of London's Advisory Council on India. He has been a regular columnist with the Business Standard.

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This programme is part of Asia Society India Centre's Asia: Beyond the Headlines series. A series of conversations with leading policy makers and thought leaders about critical issues facing Asia and the United States.

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