Rajat Kathuria
Director & Chief Executive, Indian Council for Research on International Economic Relations (ICRIER), India

Rajat Kathuria is Director and Chief Executive at Indian Council for Research on International Economic Relations (ICRIER), New Delhi. He has over 20 years experience in teaching and 10 years experience in economic policy, besides research interests on a range of issues relating to regulation and competition policy. He worked with Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) during its first eight years (1998-2006) and gained hands on experience with telecom regulation in an environment changing rapidly towards competition. The role entailed analysis of economic issues relating to telecom tariff policy, tariff rebalancing, interconnection charges and licensing policy. Market research and questionnaire development and analysis formed an integral part of this exercise. It also involved evaluation of macro level initiatives for transforming the telecom industry. He wrote a number of consultation papers which eventually formed the basis of tariff and interconnection orders applicable to the industry. He has taught undergraduate economics at the University of Maryland and is currently on leave from the International Management Institute (IMI), New Delhi where he teaches Managerial Economics and International Trade. He has worked with the World Bank, Washington DC as a Consultant and carried out project assignments for a number of organizations, including ILO, UNCTAD, LirneAsia, Ernst and Young, Consultancy Development Centre (CDC) and Standing Committee for Public Enterprises (SCOPE). He has published in international and national journals, besides in popular magazines and newspapers. He is founder member of Broadband Society for Universal Access and served on the board of Delhi Management Association. He has an undergraduate degree in Economics from St. Stephens College, a Masters from Delhi School of Economics and a PhD degree from the University of Maryland, College Park.