
Mr. Sinha was a member of India’s higher civil service – the Indian Administrative Service – from 1979 to 2013. He has held positions in different capacities at the federal, provincial and local levels, including as Private Secretary to the former Prime Minister, Shri A.B. Vajpayee, as head of Delhi’s power utility, Finance Secretary in Delhi Provincial Government, and as Chief Secretary (Chief Executive) of the Andaman government, among others. Internationally, he has headed the United Nation’s governance & development team in Afghanistan (2006-09) coordinating donor support to the Afghan government, and was earlier a Senior Advisor to Executive Director on the World Bank board (2000-2004).
Having experience with various think tanks in India (Observer Research Foundation) and Singapore (Institute of South Asian Studies), Mr. Sinha has written many book chapters, working papers, briefs, columns etc on the political economy of India, Indian foreign policy & strategic affairs, Chinese economy and politics, and on Afghanistan, for global and Indian publications.
Presently, he is also a consultant on governance and civil service reform projects, including in Afghanistan, and continues to write and speak on strategic and policy analysis issues.

Beyond HSBC, Nick is a member of GE’s Corporate Citizenship Panel, as well as the Guardian newspaper’s Sustainable Business panel. He stepped down as co-chair of the UNEP Finance Initiative’s Climate Change Working Group in 2012. Nick has more than 20 year experience in the policy, business and investment implications of sustainable development and corporate responsibility.
Before joining HSBC, Nick was head of SRI funds at Henderson Global Investors, where he launched the world’s first carbon audit of an investment fund and co-designed the Industries of the Future investment strategy.
He has also worked for the International Institute for Environment and Development, the Business Council for Sustainable Development, the European Commission and the Economist Intelligence Unit.
Nick has authored and edited a broad spectrum of books and reports, ranging from his 1990 volume Managing the Environment: the Greening of European Business (translated asL’imperatif ecologique, Calmann-Levy, 1992) through his 2006 history, The Corporation that Changed the World: How the East India Company Shaped the Modern Multinational (2006) to his 2008 Sustainable Investing: the Art of Long-Term Performance (co-edited with Cary Krosinsky).


- Major contribution made so far was preparing a position paper on “Barriers to Inter-State Trade & Commerce: The Case of Road Transport”, for the National Commission to Review the Working of the Constitution. The focus of work was on Part XIII- Article 301-307 of the Indian Constitution.
- “IT for the Masses”, funded by Friedrich NaumannStiftung fur die Freiheit (FNF).This project was primarily an impact evaluation study of three pilot projects established for delivering e-services in rural India, each one was initiated by (1) government (2) voluntary sector and (3) public-private initiative.
- Impact evaluation study based on secondary information on “IPR Regime in India under TRIPs Agreement” for making a presentation before the Joint Parliamentary Consultative Committee on Patents. The Indian Crop Protection Association and Indian Drug Manufacturers Association funded this project.
- Research project on “Non-tariff Measures affecting Indian Exports”, for the Commonwealth Secretariat (UK). It covered four sectors, namely pharmaceuticals, light engineering goods, marine products and leather goods. The study included the impact evaluation of non-tariff measures on Indian exports in selected markets.
Key Publications:
- Kaushik P. D. & Rao Purnachandra (2010) monograph- “Trading Obstacles for Indian SMEs”, Rajiv Gandhi Institute for Contemporary Studies & Friedrich NaumannStiftung fur die Freiheit.
- Kaushik P. D & Vasudeva P.K. (2008) “Intellectual Capital Contribution by States of India”, Friedrich NaumannStiftung, Rajiv Gandhi Institute for Contemporary Studies & Academic Foundation, New Delhi.
- Kaushik P D &Kaur Simrit (2008) “Economic Freedom of the States in India-2008”, Academic Foundation, New Delhi.
- Kaushik P. D. (2007) “Women Rights: Access to Justice”, Bookwell Publications, New Delhi.
- Kaushik P.D. (2006) “TRIPS Compulsions: India’s Negotiating Agenda”, in B. Debroy & D. Chakrabortyeds., Academic Foundation & RGICS Publication, Academic Foundation, New Delhi.

He is currently engaged in developing a model national institutional framework for setting up a National Bureau of Water Use Efficiency in the Ministry of Water Resources.
Shawahiq is an advisor and consultant with BRIEF India Pvt. Limited.

Arun Goyal is the Director of Academy of Business Studies, a think tank on trade and investment based in New Delhi. With BA (Hons) in Economics, he did his MBA from IIM- Ahmedabad. Some of his key achievements include:
- Established the first and only database on Safeguard, Anti-dumping and Anti-subsidy Case Law in India. The database is updated every day.
- Edited the title “Safeguards, Countervailing & Anti-dumping Measures against Imports & Exports: Commentary, Cases & Text”.
Edited the state of art compilation WTO in the New Millennium: Commentary, Case Law, Legal Texts over five editions. Personally monitored all six WTO Ministerial starting from Singapore (1996) Geneva (1998), Seattle (1999), Doha (2001), Cancun (2003) and Hong Kong (2005). - Editing and publishing the Easy Reference Customs Tariff (Now in 32nd edition), the only book giving all four customs duties and import policy against each tariff code and item.
- Nominated as a member of the Rajasthan Chief Ministers Livelihood Mission in October, 2004
- Nominated as member of Task Force on Transaction costs headed by the Director General of Foreign Trade (DGFT) in December 2004.
- Selected as “International Visitor” by the US Government to study the trade system in US in February 1997. Decorated with the award of ‘Hon. Lt. Governor’ of the State of Oklahoma on 07 February 1997.
- Selected for special course for international participants by European Commission (2002)