baat | In Conversation with PTR: Growth, Governance & India at LSE
- Date
- Fri, 17 Jul 2026
- Time
- 6:00 PM
- Type
- In-person
London School of Economics and Political Science
Houghton St, London, WC2A 2AE, United Kingdom 🇬🇧
Join former Tamil Nadu Finance Minister Palanivel Thiaga Rajan for insights on growth, governance & India's evolving socioeconomic landscape
Join us for an in-person fireside conversation with Palanivel Thiaga Rajan to explore one of the defining questions facing India today: how can governments deliver growth that is both ambitious and inclusive?
An economist, policymaker and one of India's most prominent public voices on governance and public finance, Palanivel Thiaga Rajan has consistently challenged conventional thinking on economic development, fiscal responsibility and the role of government in building opportunity.
From navigating complex public finances to shaping policy in one of India's most dynamic states, his career offers a rare perspective on what effective governance looks like in practice and how evidence, innovation and political leadership intersect.
What we'll explore
Building economies that deliver both growth and inclusion
The future of public finance and fiscal responsibility
Technology, governance and the changing relationship between citizens and the state
What innovation means beyond startups: building capable public institutions
Leadership, accountability and decision-making in an era of rapid change
India's economic future and the opportunities ahead
In conversation with
Dr Mukulika Banerjee, Department of Anthropology & Inaugural Director South Asia Centre, London School of Economics
Sanam Arora, Founder & Chair, National Indian Students and Alumni Union
Followed by an open Q&A with the audience.
Why this, why now
NISAU exists precisely to ask the questions mainstream innovation culture avoids. Whose problems get solved? Who gets to be the innovator? What does it mean to build something that serves the last person, not the first mover?
And there is no more fitting place to ask them. The London School of Economics was founded in 1895 on a single radical conviction — rerum cognoscere causas, to know the causes of things — and on the belief that the social sciences exist not to observe society but to improve it. For more than 130 years it has been where economists, policymakers and reformers come to argue over how economies should be built and who they should serve. A conversation about growth that reaches the last person, not just the first mover, belongs here.
If you work in technology, media, policy, education, social impact — or simply care about what innovation should actually mean in a world of nearly eight billion people or you care about India — this is for you.
Hosted as part of baat | A Conversation series by NISAU — the National Indian Students and Alumni Union UK, hosted kindly at the London School of Economics.
This event is free, but registration is essential. Seats are limited.
Join us for an in-person fireside conversation with Palanivel Thiaga Rajan to explore one of the defining questions facing India today: how can governments deliver growth that is both ambitious and inclusive?
An economist, policymaker and one of India's most prominent public voices on governance and public finance, Palanivel Thiaga Rajan has consistently challenged conventional thinking on economic development, fiscal responsibility and the role of government in building opportunity.
From navigating complex public finances to shaping policy in one of India's most dynamic states, his career offers a rare perspective on what effective governance looks like in practice and how evidence, innovation and political leadership intersect.
What we'll explore
Building economies that deliver both growth and inclusion
The future of public finance and fiscal responsibility
Technology, governance and the changing relationship between citizens and the state
What innovation means beyond startups: building capable public institutions
Leadership, accountability and decision-making in an era of rapid change
India's economic future and the opportunities ahead
In conversation with
Dr Mukulika Banerjee, Department of Anthropology & Inaugural Director South Asia Centre, London School of Economics
Sanam Arora, Founder & Chair, National Indian Students and Alumni Union
Followed by an open Q&A with the audience.
Why this, why now
NISAU exists precisely to ask the questions mainstream innovation culture avoids. Whose problems get solved? Who gets to be the innovator? What does it mean to build something that serves the last person, not the first mover?
And there is no more fitting place to ask them. The London School of Economics was founded in 1895 on a single radical conviction — rerum cognoscere causas, to know the causes of things — and on the belief that the social sciences exist not to observe society but to improve it. For more than 130 years it has been where economists, policymakers and reformers come to argue over how economies should be built and who they should serve. A conversation about growth that reaches the last person, not just the first mover, belongs here.
If you work in technology, media, policy, education, social impact — or simply care about what innovation should actually mean in a world of nearly eight billion people or you care about India — this is for you.
Hosted as part of baat | A Conversation series by NISAU — the National Indian Students and Alumni Union UK, hosted kindly at the London School of Economics.
This event is free, but registration is essential. Seats are limited.
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