Mr. Samir Saran
Sr. Fellow & Vice President

Joined ORF
October 2008

Expertise
Regulation / Policy, Media Studies, Climate Policy

Background
Mr. Saran is a Masters in Media Studies from the London School of Economics and Political Science and an Electrical Engineer from the Manipal Academy of Higher Education. He is also a Chevening Fellow from the University of Cambridge on the Economics of Climate Change.

From 1994 onwards he has had a rich and diverse experience in the Indian private sector and was actively engaged with the regulators and policy makers during the 1990s as India undertook economic reforms. He was part of the business development team of Reliance Industries, India's largest business conglomerate, and helped to develop its investment plans in the Power Sector. From 2000 he served the company in its regulatory and corporate affairs team for the Telecommunications business at New Delhi and was a member of the Government - Industry panel on Intellectual Property and Broadcasting regulation.

From 2005, Mr Saran looked after the Media, Regulatory and Public Affairs for the Reliance Group in a senior management position reporting to the President. From 2006, as Vice President in Reliance Industries, Mr Saran was specifically engaged with the regulatory aspects of the Oil & Gas Sector, Special Economic Zones and the emerging organized retail business in India. He was also responsible for the media and outreach efforts for the entire group at New Delhi.

Presently
Since October 2008 Mr Saran is developing partnerships and implementing outreach and development programmes at ORF on issues of domestic and international relevance. He has also written several papers and contributed chapters on Economic Crisis, Radical Islam, Climate Policy, and other development issues in India and the region. His ongoing research projects include: representation of Islam and mediation of Radicalism; Climate Change; Economic Crisis; Regulation; and the Emergence of BRICs.

E-mail ID: samirsaran@orfonline.org