The Centre for Social and Economic Progress (CSEP) is pleased to invite you to a seminar titled “India’s Digital Future: Growth and Inclusion”, featuring a conversation with Deepak Mishra, Distinguished Visiting Professor, ICRIER and Laveesh Bhandari, President, CSEP. The discussion will be moderated by Anita Gurumurthy, Founding Member & Executive Director, IT for Change.

The seminar will be held on Wednesday, August 5, 2026, from 4:00 to 5:30 pm (IST) at the CSEP Auditorium, 6, Dr Jose P Rizal Marg, Chanakyapuri, New Delhi – 110021.

Please note that this is an in-person event only. If you are in Delhi on the day, we invite you to join us for what promises to be a thought-provoking discussion. The event will be available on the CSEP website and YouTube channel upon completion.

Register here to attend

About the event

India has built one of the world’s largest and most dynamic digital ecosystems. From digital public infrastructure and e-commerce to AI adoption, the country’s achievements have been remarkable. Yet the next phase of India’s digital journey raises a new set of questions. How can India translate digital scale into lasting economic value? Can institutions keep pace with rapidly evolving technologies? And how can innovation, competition, and inclusion be balanced as the digital economy continues to expand?

Drawing on insights from two recent reports examining India’s digital economy and e-commerce ecosystem, this seminar brings together Deepak Mishra and Laveesh Bhandari, in conversation with Anita Gurumurthy, to explore the opportunities and policy choices that will shape the next chapter of Digital India.

Moderator

Anita Gurumurthy

Anita Gurumurthy is a founding member and Executive Director of IT for Change, where she leads research and advocacy on data and AI governance, platform regulation, and feminist frameworks on digital justice. Anita serves on several expert bodies – she is a member of the UN CSTD’s Working Group on Data Governance and a Visiting Fellow at the UN University International Institute for Global Health. Anita has co-led the T20’s digital transformation track during the South Africa and Brazil G20 presidencies and has been part of the High-Level Committee of the NetMundial+10 and member of the UN Secretary-General’s Group on Technology Facilitation Mechanism.

Speakers

Deepak Mishra

Deepak Mishra is an economist and public policy expert. He is currently a Distinguished Visiting Professor at the Indian Council for Research on International Economic Relations (ICRIER), where he previously served as Director and Chief Executive. He is also an Honorary Professor at the University of Delhi and a member of the Committee of Eminent External Experts (CEEE) in the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas. Deepak spent more than two decades at the World Bank (1998-2021), living and working across Africa, East Asia and South Asia. He also co-directed the World Development Report 2016: Digital Dividends.

Laveesh Bhandari 

Laveesh Bhandari is a policy economist and heads CSEP, New Delhi, India’s premier multidisciplinary think tank focusing on robust scholarship-driven policy ideas.  He has published widely on subjects related to economic growth, emerging geopolitics, regulation and policy, governance and inclusion.  Currently, he is working on issues of climate change and economic transformation, the great digital opportunity, and the multifaceted challenges emerging from judicial delays. Laveesh Bhandari received his PhD in economics from Boston University, has taught economics at Boston University and IIT Delhi, and is a Visiting Professor of Practice at the London School of Economics.

All content reflects the individual views of the speakers. The Centre for Social and Economic Progress (CSEP) does not hold an institutional view on any subject.

Please contact Gurmeet Kaur at GKaur@csep.org for general queries and Ayesha Manocha at AManocha@csep.org for media queries.