About Us
Geopolitics and Geoeconomics
The Centre for Geopolitics and Geo-Economics vertical of the Pune International Centre serves as a dynamic platform dedicated to facilitating dialogue, collaboration, and understanding among different stakeholders. Through research and innovation, policy advocacy, and capacity-building initiatives, this vertical engages with diplomats, academicians, policymakers, and emerging scholars to foster and contribute to critical discourse on pressing global issues.
In addition, the vertical provides research fellowship and internship opportunities to numerous bright, young scholars throughout the year, cultivating their intellectual and professional growth. It also hosts podcasts, seminars, and roundtable conferences with prominent personalities from the field.
People Working Under the Vertical
Amb. (Retd.) Gautam Bambawale.
Amb. Gautam Bambawale was the former Ambassador of India to Bhutan and China and High Commissioner to Pakistan. He was a member of the Indian Foreign Service from 1984 to 2018. He was India’s Ambassador to Bhutan, Pakistan and China. Bambawale was stationed in Washington DC in 2004-07 during the Indo-US nuclear deal, which transformed ties between the two countries. He was India’s first Consul General in Guangzhou (China) 2007-09.
He was Director of the Indian Cultural Centre, Berlin, 1994-98. Ambassador Bambawale worked in the Prime Minister’s Office 2002-04. At the Ministry of External Affairs, he was Joint Secretary for East Asia from 2009 to 2014. Bambawale has dealt with China for 15 years of his 34-year diplomatic career. He is fluent in Mandarin Chinese and German. Ambassador Bambawale is currently a Distinguished Professor at the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences at Symbiosis International University, Pune and teaches Diplomacy and International Governance at the Symbiosis School of International Studies. Amb. Bambawale is also a Consultant for some private-sector Indian companies. He has an M.Phil. in Economics from the Gokhale Institute of Politics and Economics, Pune.
Dr. Ajit Ranade
Dr. Ajit Ranade is presently Senior Fellow and Trustee with the Pune International Centre. His thirty-five-year career has spanned academic, research and corporate assignments. He served as the Vice-Chancellor of the Gokhale Institute of Politics and Economics, a deemed university in Pune, from February 2022 to October 2024. Prior to that, he was Group Executive President and Chief Economist with the Aditya Birla Group, an Indian multinational conglomerate. Dr. Ranade has been a member of the executive committees of apex industry chambers such as the Confederation of Indian Industry, Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce & Industry (FICCI) and Mahratta Chamber of Commerce, Industries and Agriculture (MCCIA), and has served on several committees of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI). He has earlier been a faculty member at universities in the USA and in India. He serves on the boards of several companies and trusts, and has been a newspaper columnist for over two decades, writing on economics and current topics. He is a co-author of the award-winning book Rising to the China Challenge (2021).
Dr Ranade is co-founder and trustee of the Association for Democratic Reforms, a citizens’ watchdog body. He was educated at the Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay, and the Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad. He received his PhD in Economics from Brown University, USA. He received the Distinguished Alumnus Award from IIT Bombay in 2009.
Konthoujam Sarda (PhD)
Senior Research Associate
Sarda holds a PhD in Political Science from North Eastern Hill University, Shillong. With a background spanning research, teaching, and journalism, she has worked in both academic and policy spaces. Before joining PIC, she was a faculty member at the School of International Studies, Sichuan University, China, and previously served as a Research Associate at the ASEAN Studies Centre, Shillong, supported by the Ministry of External Affairs.
Koena Lahiri (PhD)
Policy Research Associate
Koena holds an MPhil and PhD in International Politics from the Central University of Gujarat, where her doctoral research focused on paradiplomacy. Prior to joining PIC, she worked as a Research Analyst at Ahmedabad University and as a Teaching Assistant at the Central University of Gujarat.
Rajlaxmi Deshmukh
Research Assistant
Rajlaxmi holds a postgraduate degree in International Relations and Strategic Studies from University of Mumbai and graduated as a Gold Medalist in Political Science from MIT World Peace University. Her research interests include South Asia, Indo-Pacific and Feminist Foreign Policy. She is a language enthusiast in German and Japanese.
Hritika Patil
Research Analysist