People

Team

CTIER-Team

CTIER’s core team is composed of individuals with a deep understanding of the R&D ecosystem and the challenges R&D leaders face, strong data skills, and a passion to transform R&D in Indian firms through well-designed programmatic interventions.

Hemant Zende

Finance and Administration

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Hemant Zende

Finance and Administration
Swati-Joshi
Swati Joshi

Senior Research Associate

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Swati Joshi

Senior Research Associate
Swati is a Senior Research Associate at CTIER. She has extensive experience working with state governments and international agencies such as UNICEF and the World Bank across different development sectors like education, WASH, public health, social security, and participatory planning.
She holds a MSc with Distinction in Industrial Biotechnology from Newcastle University and a BSc with Distinction from the University of Pune.
Chaitanya Lekharaju

Research Associate

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Chaitanya Lekharaju

Research Associate
Chaitanya Lekharaju is a Research Associate at CTIER. He has helped establish CTIER’s in-house survey unit. His research interests include firm level innovation, emerging technologies, and India’s higher education sector.
He has previously worked as a Project Management Professional (PMP) in the Power plant and Telecom construction industry. Chaitanya holds a MA degree in Development Studies from National Institute of Technology, Rourkela.
Neha-Kumari
Neha Kumari

Research Analyst

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Neha Kumari

Research Analyst
Neha Kumari is a Research Analyst at CTIER. Her research interests include higher education, startups, and their synergies. She has previously worked as a retail manager at an MNC and as a research intern at IIT Kharagpur.
Neha holds an MA degree in Development Studies from the National Institute of Technology, Rourkela.
Nishant Dewaney

Research Analyst

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Nishant Dewaney

Research Analyst
Nishant Dewaney is a Research Analyst at CTIER. His research interests include the public sector’s role in R&D, adoption of new technologies by firms, innovation policy, and the communication of data. He has previously worked as a science communicator at an MNC and as a research intern at the DST - Centre for Policy Research at the Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore.
Nishant holds an MSc degree in Science and Technology Communication from CSIR - National Institute of Science Communication and Policy Research and an BSc degree in Physics from St. Xavier’s College, Mumbai.
Pranali Patil

Research Analyst

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Pranali Patil

Research Analyst
Pranali is a Research Analyst at CTIER. She has contributed CTIER's efforts on India Management and Growth Survey. Her interests lie in public policy, development economics and the Indian economy.
She has an MA in Economics from Gokhale Institute of Politics and Economics Pune and a BA Political Science from Savitribai Phule Pune University.
Sukhada Raibole

Research Analyst

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Sukhada Raibole

Research Analyst
Sukhada is a Research Analyst at CTIER. She has contributed to CTIER's efforts on firm level surveys. Her interest areas lie in manufacturing sector dynamics, data analysis and public policy.
She holds a BBA Degree with a specialisation in Marketing from Savitribai Phule Pune University.
Yashika Doshi

Associate Researcher

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Yashika Doshi

Associate Researcher

Yashika Doshi is an Associate Researcher at CTIER. Her work lies at the intersection of technology, institutions, and economic strategy.

She has previously worked as an Associate at Artha Global, where she contributed to macroeconomic and public policy research, including flagship reports such as The Road to Viksit Bharat @ 2047 and City-level Assessments on Urban Social Protection in Maharashtra. Her work also examined urban governance, particularly the role of capacity-building initiatives and Urban Managers’ Learning Networks in strengthening institutional performance. Earlier, Yashika served as an economist at the Aditya Birla Group and had a brief stint at EXIM Bank of India.

Yashika holds an MSc in Economics from the University of Nottingham and a Postgraduate Diploma in Economics from the Meghnad Desai Academy of Economics, Mumbai where she received the Best Dissertation Award. She has an MA in Economics from Gokhale Institute of Politics and Economics Pune and a BA Political Science from Savitribai Phule Pune University.

Ishwari Marathe

Research Analyst

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Ishwari Marathe

Research Analyst

Ishwari is a Research Analyst at CTIER. Her interests lie in data analysis, macroeconomics and management studies.

She has an BA in Economics from Fergusson College (Autonomous) Pune.

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