Saumil is a career civil servant from Chhattisgarh, India, where he joined the State Administrative Service at age 21 as its youngest entrant. Over the past 14 years, he has led major policy and implementation roles, from city governance to state-level budgeting and communications. As CEO of the Urban Development Agency, he oversaw $1.22B in infrastructure projects, built 150000 affordable homes, and implemented a solid waste programme benefiting 7m people. Saumil also served as Director of Public Relations, using strategic media partnerships to boost citizen engagement by 5900%.

Saumil's core policy interests lie in urban transformation, data-driven public finance, and sustainable infrastructure. He recently completed an MPA at Harvard Kennedy School on a full fellowship and now looks forward to contributing to Oxford’s MPP cohort. Saumil is a Joint Japan/World Bank scholar.