Dr. Mukul G. Asher has been an Independent Director of the Company since 2003. He is a Professorial Fellow at the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy at the National University of Singapore. He studied in India and the United States. His research focuses on public financial management, including the PPPs; social security reforms in Asia, and application of economic reasoning to India’s public policies, and to its economic diplomacy. He has published extensively in national and international journals; and has authored or edited more than fourteen books. He has been a Visiting Faculty at the Asian Public Policy Program at Hitotsubashi University since the early 2000s. He has been a consultant or advisor to several Governments in Asia on tax policy and pension reforms; and to multi-lateral institutions including the International Monetary Fund, Asian Development Bank, Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority (PFRDA) of India, Government of Gujarat, and the World Bank. He has led many Executive development programs for government officials from several countries, including India, Indonesia, Russia, Sri Lanka, Kazakhstan, and Vietnam. He is actively involved with various research organizations and think tanks, including ERIA (Economic Research Institute for ASEAN and East Asia) in Jakarta. He served as Chairman, fifth State Finance Commission of Haryana from May 2016 to September 2017, when the Report was submitted. He was a member of the panel to review (between November 2017 and January 2018) Crawford School of Public Policy at the Australian National University.