Public Affairs Forum of India (PAFI), the resource for public affairs practitioners in the country, today announced its new office bearers for the year 2023-24.

The Vice President of PAFI for 2022-23 and Senior Vice President & Chief Public Affairs at the Apollo Hospitals Group, Vinita Sethi, took over as the President of PAFI for 2023-24 with immediate effect. The incumbent President, Virat Bhatia, completed his tenure as the President of PAFI for 2022-23.

Sethi said, “It is a privilege to take over as the second woman President of PAFI. Seeing more women in the leadership team of PAFI this year is terrific. There wouldn’t be a better time to be in Public Affairs as we navigate major global shifts and impacts in today’s inter-connected world by regularly engaging with policymakers and peers in India and abroad.”

She added, At PAFI, we have been deepening capacity building in the public affairs domain through sharing experiences and navigating critical shifts in policymaking by engaging with the central and state governments and think tanks and aligning with other external stakeholders. Our focus has been on new paradigms of governance, growth and development. The other office bearers and I will continue our dialogue and outreach with stakeholders in the government and businesses across sectors. We will continue to strengthen cross-sectoral collaborations, innovate and build new policy-dialogue platforms to support the government’s efforts towards accelerating the country’s economic growth and overall development.”

Deepshikha Dharmaraj, Chief Executive Officer of BCW India Group is the new Vice President of PAFI. Chetan Krishnaswamy, India Public Policy, Amazon India is the new Secretary, and Medha Girotra, Vice President, Public Policy, South Asia, Mastercard India Services, is the new Treasurer.