Speakers

Avantika is global business writer at The Economist. She previously served as international correspondent, covering development and aid, and host of The Modi Raj, an eight-part podcast about Indian prime minister, Narendra Modi. The series won the Society of Publishers in Asia’s 2025 Award for Excellence in Audio Reporting and was selected by The New Yorker as one of the ten best podcasts of the year. Avantika is also the author of a special report on philanthropy, “Move Fast and Mend Things”.

Before joining the newspaper she covered finance for The Wall Street Journal, and was a foreign correspondent for the Financial Times based in Mumbai and Jakarta. Avantika has appeared regularly on the BBC, Sky News, CBS, and MSNBC, and has spoken on BBC Radio 4, BBC World Service and NPR. She is a graduate of the University of Cambridge and Harvard University, where she was a Kennedy Scholar.