Team

Research Associate

Vaswati is a postgraduate in Applied Economics from Christ University, Bangalore. Her research interests lie in the areas of Labour and Industrial Economics. She is driven towards blending data analysis with policy insights to address issues related to economic growth and employment. Her professional experience includes working as an officer at the Federal Bank, where she gained expertise in credit creation systems and financial operations, and interning at ONGC, contributing to research on the oil and gas sector.

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Team

Project Manager

Samit is a management professional with over 15 years of experience in diverse areas. At BRIEF, he primarily manages economic and policy research projects, with focus on trade facilitation, policy analysis, reform advocacy and impact assessment of government interventions among others. He has been engaged in assignments related to infrastructural, operational and regulatory aspects at various sea and land ports in India, reform facilitation on focus areas with respect to maritime trade, barriers to trade, inversions in duty structure in selected Indian manufacturing sectors, impact of imports under EPCG scheme on exports and the India’s capital goods sector, etc. His KRAs at BRIEF include proposal building, client management, team management, report structuring, analysis, report writing, managing regional and national level meets, preparation of policy briefs and maintaining interface with the policy establishment, business chambers, stakeholder associations, traders, etc.

Samit’s prior experience includes business and investment research as well as fund raising activities, focused on areas such as preparation of research reports, building business proposals, deal origination and screening, preparation of documents such as teasers, IMs and business plans, industry analysis, company analysis, financial statement analysis, comparables analysis, etc.

Samit has co-authored several publications i.e. reports, chapters, policy briefs, etc. and has also written articles for online and print media platforms.

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Team

Director

Afaq Hussain is Director and Founding Member of the Bureau of Research on Industry and Economic Fundamentals (BRIEF). With nearly two decades of experience in policy research, he specializes in international trade and trade facilitation, regional cooperation, maritime infrastructure, and the logistics sector.

Through extensive field-level research and high-impact collaborations, Afaq has delivered successful interventions on international trade and economic development. At BRIEF, he has led multiple flagship assignments in the trade and logistics ecosystem with the Ministry of Shipping, Ports and Waterways, Ministry of Commerce, and the National Committee for Trade Facilitation, aimed at enhancing India’s trade environment and improving port efficiency. His work has also contributed significantly to regional economic cooperation in South Asia, particularly on India–Pakistan trade and Cross-Line of Control trade through Jammu & Kashmir.

In June 2025, Afaq was appointed Non-Resident Senior Fellow at the N7 Initiative, Middle East Programs, Atlantic Council (Washington DC). His research there focuses on the economic dimensions of the Middle East, with a particular emphasis on the India–Middle East–Europe Corridor (IMEC). His co-authored report on IMEC at the Atlantic Council is regarded as an important contribution to the literature on the corridor’s economic viability and operational aspects.

Afaq is also a trusted partner for international organizations such as the Asian Development Bank (ADB), World Bank, and UNDP. He served as a member of the Infrastructure Connectivity vertical for India@75 at NITI Aayog, contributing to India’s long-term development agenda. An alumnus of the U.S. State Department’s International Visitors Leadership Program (IVLP) on ‘Smart Ports’, he brings global insights to policy, trade, and infrastructure dialogues.

His research and advisory work focus on identifying infrastructural and regulatory inefficiencies, streamlining cross-border trade processes, and advocating progressive policy reforms that strengthen regional and global trade ecosystems. Known for a hands-on, field-driven approach, Afaq’s work is rooted in on-ground research across India and abroad. He was also part of the study team for the study, ‘Assessment of Logistics Cost in India’, an important study towards creating an efficient domestic logistics ecosystem in India, by the Ministry of Commerce and Industry, Government of India.  

In addition to his policy work, Afaq regularly contributes opinion pieces, journal articles, and book chapters, and delivers lectures at leading universities, forums, and workshops worldwide on international trade, logistics, and infrastructure.

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Mohammed Saqib has over 30 years of experience with Government think tanks like Rajiv Gandhi Institute for Contemporary Studies (RGICS) and Indian Council for Research in International Economic Relations (ICRIER). He has strong expertise in International Trade, economic reforms, FDI, Industrial Policy and WTO related issues.

Some of his publications are as follows –

• MSME Report, RGICS/ SIDBI 2010
• “FDI Funded and Export- Oriented Mass Manufacturing in China: Lessons for Indian Manufacturing Sector”. ADB/ ICRIER 2010
• “A Sino-Indian Axis for Innovation and Sustainability”, The WWF 2009
• “Sustainable Investment in Indian Industry: A cross section analysis” The WWF 2008
• “Environmental Goods and Services: Emerging opportunities and Old Threats”. Ministry of Environment, Government of India 2007
• “TRIPS and the Convention on Biological Diversity: Impact on India under Multilateral Trading System” Ministry of Environment, Government of India2007
• “India’s Industrial subsidy and incentive: Are They WTO Compatible?” DGFT, Ministry of Commerce, Govt. of India. 2007
• “WTO Implementation Issues: Institutional Framework and Domestic Capacity Building in India”. The World Bank 2005
• “International Standards and Domestic Capacity Building in India” Ministry of Commerce, Govt. of India.
• “WTO Agreement on Sanitary and Phyto- Sanitary Measures and its Implications on India’s Agri exports ” European Union SPF Project. 2005
• “Implications of the WTO Agreements on SPS and TBT on Access to Health” Ministry of Health and Family Welfare and WHO Project, 2006
• “Non Tariff Barriers to India’s processed food Exports: Analysis of Marine products” The World Bank 2004
• “Report on Poverty Alleviation through Generating Employment in India” UNDP 1999
• “Impact of Environmental Requirement on India’s Export Performance: Scoping Study For Environment Friendly Products” UNCTAD 2004
• “Environmental Issues and Domestic Regulations in Indian Electronic Industry” International Institute for Environment and Development and Commonwealth Secretariat. UK 2005.

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Subrata Bandyopadhyay, Masters in Economics, has more than 15 years of experience in socio-economic research. He was associated with National Council of Applied Economic Research (NCAER) for more than three years in various capacities wherein he worked on various household and industrial surveys. He has been part of various prestigious research projects for the Indian government as well as from industries during his tenure in NCAER. Some of the important projects include India Science Report, Market Information Survey of Household (MISH), etc. He has also been associated with other organizations like NISTADS (a constituent establishment of CSIR), indiastat.com, etc.

Given the diversity of the studies he has worked on, he has acquired expertise on Indian data – primary as well as secondary. He has also held extensive interaction with sponsors from both industry and the government. His proficiency lies in execution & implementation of large-scale surveys, developing survey instruments, primary & secondary data analysis using modern statistical methods. At BRIEF he has been instrumental in managing survey based studies in the field of Socio-Economic sphere like health, women empowerment, education, etc.

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