Our People

Nilaya Varma
Co-Founder & CEO
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Nilaya is a globally renowned management consultant with experience in leading large transformation programs and advising governments in more than 20 countries. With a career spanning of about 25 years, he has worked extensively with state and national governments in India as well as globally. He has also worked with international funding institutions and donor agencies including the IMF, The World Bank, DFID and ADB. Prior to Primus, he had been a Partner in large firms like PwC, Accenture and KPMG for more than 10 years. He is known to be a value creator, having built and established large and successful public sector focused consulting practices in the past across organizations and led 1000+ people teams. Nilaya is also one of the leading Public Policy, Investment Promotion & Realization and Digital Transformation specialists globally, having led Government Policy formulations in multiple countries. A prolific writer, he has written numerous authored articles and opinion pieces across publications in India. He is an alumnus of the Institution of Electronics & Telecommunication Engineers and Management Development Institute and is presently based out of Delhi.
At Primus, apart from being the CEO, he would also lead the “Public Policy Realization” practice and be part of the Board and the Leadership Team.
You can get in touch with him at nilaya@primuspartners.in

Aarti Harbhajanka
Co-Founder & MD
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Aarti has more than 12 years of rich experience in leading and delivering major consulting assignments with numerous Public Sector clients. She has worked extensively in areas such as policy formulation, developing strategies, design, implementation and program management across multiple sectors/departments in the Government including Information Technology, Housing, Education, Women and Child Development, etc. In the past, she has worked with leading consultancy firms like PricewaterhouseCoopers, Accenture and KPMG. She is an alumnus of the prestigious Indian Institute of Management Lucknow and is presently based out of Mumbai.
At Primus, Aarti would lead the Finance Function as the CFO, Co-Lead the “Technology Potential Realization” practice, steer the Housing sector practice and be part of the Leadership Team.
You can get in touch with her at aarti@primuspartners.in

Devroop Dhar
Co-Founder & MD
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Devroop has 17 years of professional experience in management consulting working with leading firms like TCS, PwC, Accenture and KPMG in the past, including being a Partner with a Big 4 firm for 3 years. He has worked with leading clients both in the public and private sector in areas like Biometrics & Identity Management, Justice & Security, Government Transformation, Digital and new age technologies, Film Archival, Skill Development, Urban and Sanitation. Prior to Primus, Devroop was the Lead Account Partner for one of the largest accounts for KPMG, having grown it significantly over the years. He is a PMP trained and a certified Six Sigma Black Belt professional and has written multiple-authored articles and opinion pieces across publications. Devroop is an alumnus of Jadavpur University and the Indian Institute of Management, Kozhikode and is presently based out of Mumbai.
At Primus, Devroop would Lead the HR, IT & Support Functions, Lead the West region, Co-Lead the “Technology Potential Realization” practice and be part of the Leadership Team.
You can get in touch with him at devroop@primuspartners.in

Charu Malhotra
Co-Founder & MD
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Charu is one of the leading and well-reputed educationists and learning & development professionals in India, with more than 20 years of professional experience in Public Education and Learning. Prior to joining Primus, she had been in senior roles in KPMG and IL&FS Education and Technology Services Ltd. amongst others. Passionate about education, she has worked with more than fifteen State Governments on projects in Education, Technology and in CSR programs, and has served on important panels and committees of Government in India. She is an alumnus of Calcutta University and the University of London and would be based out of Delhi.
At Primus, she would lead the "Impact Realization" practice, steer the Education and Skill Development sector practice and be part of the Leadership Team.
You can get in touch with her at charu@primuspartners.in

Kanishk Maheshwari
Co-Founder & MD
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Kanishk has over 12 years of professional experience in management consulting with leading firms like KPMG, IMS Health, E&Y, and Oracle Solution Services in the past. He has worked with key clients both in the public and private sectors in areas like Investment Promotion, Regulatory Simplification, Industrial Infrastructure and Promotion, Public Policy, Process Export, Health Planning, and Governance, etc. He has been involved in a number of projects involving policy and capacity building of the public sector to make it more effective and efficient. Prior to Primus, Kanishk was a director at KPMG. He is a PMP trained and an Oracle certified professional. Kanishk is an alumnus of the IEC College of Engineering & Technology, Greater Noida, and the Institute of Management Technology, Ghaziabad, and is presently based out of Chandigarh.
At Primus, Kanishk would lead the “Investment Realization” practice and be part of the Leadership Team.
You can get in touch with him at kanishk@primuspartners.in

Anurag Singh
MD
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Anurag has around 27 years of experience in leading and delivering business strategy with numerous Private Sector companies. He has worked extensively across sectors such as Manufacturing, Automotives, Chemicals, Fashion, Wellness, Insurance, and Aviation and has advised clients on Mergers and Acquisitions, Start-Ups, Artificial Intelligence, Performance Improvement, Integrated Planning, etc. In the past, he has worked with companies like E&Y, Sattwa Wellness, The Chemours Company, DuPont, and Hero Corporate Service. He has driven $500m business across the Asia Pacific on tactical and strategic decision making through financial numbers. He is an alumnus of the L.D College of Engineering, Ahmedabad, and the Management Development Institute, Gurgaon, and is presently based out of Delhi.
At Primus, Anurag would lead the Chemical, Manufacturing, and Automotive Sector practice.
You can get in touch with him at anurag@primuspartners.in

Maj. Gen. Rohit Gupta
Head Aerospace & Defence
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Combat Arms Officer. Rich experience of Counter-Insurgency & High Altitude. Three levels in Defence Policy and Procurement for the Indian Army and Tri-Service. Retired Additional Director General Weapon & Equipment of the Indian Army.

Dr. Amit Kapoor
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Hon. Chairman at Institute for Competitiveness. President of India Council on Competitiveness. Editor-in-Chief of Thinkers magazine. Author. Columnist. Public Speaker. Affiliate faculty Harvard Business School.

Dr. Anurag Batra
Senior Advisor
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Successful serial entrepreneur. Mentor. Media mogul and a journalist. Chairman & Editor in Chief of BW Businessworld. Chairman & Editor in Chief of exchange4media Group. MDI Alumnus.

Pramod Kumar
Senior Advisor
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Management Consultant and Business leader. Financial Services Sector. Real Estate Development. United Nations Office for Project Services and the Prime Minister Awas Yojana scheme.

Ghanshyam Dass
Senior Advisor
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Ghanshyam has had an outstanding career in domestic, international banking and Capital Markets for over 45 years. He is thoroughly familiar with the regulatory and business environment in USA, European Union, South East Asia, Middle East and India and a firm understanding of the complexities of global markets. He is currently Vice President at the Para Athletics Federation of India, Trustee for the The Braj Foundation, Advisor on the Abhaya Foundation’s National Advisory Council, part of the Governing Council on the Bangalore International Mediation, Arbitration and Conciliation Centre (BIMAC) as well as a member of USIBC.

Purva Chadha
Business / Sector Strategy.
Digital Transformation.
Startup Advisory.
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13 years of experience. Strategic Visioning & Planning. Technology Transformation. Sector/ Ecosystem Development. Operating Model Design. Business Process Re-engineering.

Renu Punhani
Education Expert.
Capacity Building.
Content Development.
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Over 20 years of experience. Educationist. Pedagogy. Life skills. Assessments. ICT. KPMG. Schoolnet India. CORDOVA Publications. Bluebells School International.

Abinash Chaudhary
Governance & Policy.
Political Leadership.
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Over 15 years of experience. Student. Politics. Policy & Planning. MPhil, Law & Governance. Media. Research & Analysis. Politics. Big Data. Advocacy and Campaign Management.

Amit Dugar
Aerospace and Defence.
Research.
Financial modelling.
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10 years of experience. Chartered Accountant. MBA (Finance). Primary and Secondary Research. Financial Modelling. Due Diligence. Strategy Advisory.

Amitoj Gill
Programme Design.
Research & Analysis.
Impact Assessment.
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12 years of experience across India and the United Kingdom. Education & Livelihoods. Energy. Health & Sanitation. Agriculture & Nutrition. Environment & Humanitarian Disasters. London School of Economics alumnus.

Chitra Sharma
Legal.
Compliance.
Public Policy.
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7 years of experience. Litigation Management. Legal Affairs. Compliance and Regulatory Affairs. Policy. Transformation. Procurement. GNLU Alumnus.

Nikhil Dhaka
Public Policy.
Investment Promotion.
Start-Ups.
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Over 11 years of experience. Business Consultant. Government & Infra Advisory. Investment Promotion. EoDB. Public Policy. Start-Up Entrepreneur. FORE School Alumnus. Ex-KPMG.

Pooja Ahluwalia
Research & Analysis.
Brand & Corporate Strategy.
Public Policy.
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Over 13 years of experience. Learning & Development. KPMG India. KPMG Global Services. Dion Global Solutions. RocSearch. SRCC Alumnus. FORE School Alumnus.

Prateek Gupta
Technology Implementation.
E-Governance.
Process Re-Engineering.
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Over 11 years of experience. Management Consultant & Technology Enthusiast. IT & e-Governance. Government Advisory. IT/ITeS. IIM Shillong Alumnus.

Ankit Nebhnani
Education.
Program Management.
Technology.
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6 years of experience. Public Policy. Technology Realization. Project & Program Management. Development Sector. Education. Forest & Energy (Oil & Gas).

Arindam Pal
Digital Transformation.
AgroTech.
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Over 8 Year of Experience. eNAM (PM’s Flagship Project). Business Process Re-engineering.
eGovernance. Project Lifecycle Management. IT Delivery. Cross-Sectoral Experience. AgroTech. Startups. Brand Management.

Ashish Goyal
Technology.
E-Governance.
Program Management.
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Over 10 years of experience. PMP Certified Management Consultant. Project Management. IT Transformation. e-Governance. B2B & B2C applications. CBDT. IRDA. DoP. MSDE.

Ayush Kachru
Large-scale Transformations.
Technology Evangelist.
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Ayush is a seasoned Consultant with expertise across Strategy Consulting, Bid and Project Management, Public Policy, Citizen engagement platforms, Business plan evaluation, Market Intelligence, and Megatrends. He has been consulted by various private sector conglomerates across IT/Telecom, CPG, BFSI and IG verticals, servicing clients across India, US, and APAC on key issues related to Profitability, Cost Reduction, New Product/Market development, Market sizing and benchmarking, and GTM strategy.

Ipsita Gauba
Public Policy.
Start-Ups.
Research.
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Over four years of experience. Social Development. WASH. Skilling. Education. Healthcare. Policy. Strategy. KPMG. UNDP. World Bank. Columbia University Alumnus.

Manoj Kumar
Public Health.
Power and Energy.
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Over 10 years of experience. Strategic Visioning & Planning. Project Management, Supervision and Implementation. Public Health. IT modernization and enablement. E-Governance. Smart Grid and Power IT.

Poorva Gadre
Public Policy.
Strategy Implementation.
Ease of Doing Business.
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Policy planning and implementation, strategy implementation, technology implementation, ranking and assessment framework experience across Governments of Singapore, Maharashtra, Gujarat, Karnataka and Kerala. IIM Alumnus.

Prashant Bhatt
Strategic Management.
Technology.
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8+ years of experience spanning across industries and geographies (India, US and Middle East). Worked at Hertz Corporation, Airports Authority of India, Renoir Consulting - towards project management, strategy & operations and process improvement. Penn State MBA (United States), Electronics Engineer.

Farhan Ahmed
Water & Sanitation.
Community Organization.
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Over 4 years of experience. Govt. Advisory, Social Development, Communication Strategy, Financial Inclusion, Program and Project Management. Visvervaraya Technological University Alumnus. Tata Institute of Social Sciences Alumnus.

Gundeep Kaur
Financial Modeling.
Public Policy Investments.
Location Assessment.
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6 years of experience. Investment Promotion. Policy Advocacy. Process Re-Engineering. Design of Quality Management Framework. Change Management. Restructuring.

Karan Chafekar
Health & Sanitation.
Digital Media Strategy.
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6 years of experience. Business Strategy. Project & Program Management. Research & Analysis. Health & Sanitation. Digital Media Strategy.

Mukul Bapat
E-Governance.
Program Management.
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8 years of experience in Management Consulting with leading firm like PwC, KPMG. E-Governance, Business Strategy, Project & Program Management, ICT Transformation, Research & Analysis, Public Policy Advisor.

Sagar Salunkhe
Technology.
Public Policy.
Affordable Housing.
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8 years of experience. IT. e-Governance. Affordable Housing Consulting. Public Policy Advisor. KPMG, Mahindra & Mahindra. Datamatics Global Services Ltd.

Subhabrata Ray
Private Equity.
PPP Investments.
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More than 6 years of experience across government sector advisory, private equity, family wealth and investment management. Alumnus of London School of Economics & Political Science.

Vinayak Malhotra
Strategy.
Emerging Technology.
Operational Excellence.
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Over 3 years of experience. Entrepreneur. Management Consultant. Telecom Media Technology. Emerging Technology. Public Policy and Politics. KPMG. Deloitte.

Aman Sartaj
Graphics Designer.
Motion Graphics Designer (2D & 3D). Editor.
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Over 6 years of experience. Professional Graphics Designer. Motion Graphic Designer. Design Creation. Design & Aesthetics. Visual Conceptualisation.

Ayushi Gupta
Finance.
Research.
Financial modeling.
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Over 3 years of experience. Financial Modelling. Data Research. Analysis. Financial Services Sector. Policy Advocacy. EY. Copal Partners. SRCC Alumnus.

Devanshu Goswami
Business Process Excellence.
Strategy & Operations.
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Himani Anand
Outreach & Marketing.
Social Media.
Hospitality.
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12 years of experience. Event Design & Styling. Marketing and Promotion. Event Review Risk Management. Onsite Deployment. Facilities & Vendor Management. Administration.

Hitesh Khanna
Policy Advocacy.
Program Management.
Knowledge Management.
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Over 8 years of experience. Management Professional. Financial Inclusion. Election Reform. Cybersecurity. Project Management. Events. Television. Training. Research.

Kamakshi Verma
Public Policy & Planning.
Research.
Social Audits.
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2 years of experience. Economic Development. Healthcare and Health Economics. Business Development. Research and Analysis. Stakeholder Coordination.

Mahesh Gude
Financial Modelling.
Documentation.
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F&B and Cost Controller in my previous job at TATA Group in Taj Hotels
Adhering to all control procedures & Updating costing
Ensures Compliance with documentation / authorization processes.

Palak Singh
Financial Modelling.
Strategy & Marketing.
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2.5 years of experience in Public Sector Advisory, Economic Development Advisory, Financial Modelling, Strategy & Marketing.
EY. NMIMS Alumnus.

Shailesh Jha
Public Health Engineering.
Water & Sanitation Strategy.
Emerging Tech & Policy.
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Over 10 years of experience. City WASH Planner. Water, Sanitation & Solid Waste Management. Technology & Strategy. Smart City, AMRUT. SBM. Private Township Planning.

Siddhi Parakh
Urban Planning.
Program Management.
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3 years of experience. Public Policy. Government Advisory ,Urban Planning Sector Town Planning Scheme , Smart City project management

Suvi Jain
Public Policy & Strategy.
Government Affairs.
Legal.
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Over 2 years of experience. Lawyer. Political Strategist with Members of Parliament. Policy & Governance. Campaign Management. Electioneering. LAMP Fellow.

Yash Saksena
Government Advisory.
Economic Development.
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An MBA in Financial Analysis and CFA (Level 1) with work experience at Aviva India and internship experience with Ernst & Young (EY), & Kline & Company. He has primarily worked in the economic, and financial research sphere. During his internship and MBA, he has worked on a variety of public sector projects related to Investor summits and Infrastructure development.