Dr. Samar Verma is a trained economist & seasoned international development professional with a
distinguished experience of over 27 years working across USA, Canada, UK and South & Southeast
Asia, and in multiple sectors including government policy think tanks and the corporate sector. His
work has been appreciated by the highest public office in India.
He began his career as an economist with Arvind Mills in Ahmedabad- helping to develop business
strategy, government policy engagement, international policy analysis of the World Trade
Organisation (WTO) and CSR. He did extensive work on impact of Multi-Fibre Agreement on Indian
textile, published numerous publications (many jointly with Dr. P. R. Roy), and made presentations
at industry conferences, CII, FICCI and other industry bodies. He was invited to research on textile
policy by the influential government policy think tank (Indian Council for Research on International
Economic Relations (ICRIER) in Delhi, where he worked on government committees providing
economic policy inputs on international trade. He represented India and developing countries
economic interest at the WTO Ministerial Conferences in Geneva for many years. He also founded
and led South Asian think tank on trade and development, and has been member and chair of
several governing boards. As global Team Leader and Policy Advisor at Oxfam Great Britain, based
at Oxford, UK, he led Oxfam’s global research and policy on trade, climate change and agriculture.
For past two decades, he has developed program strategies, built extensive international
relationships and managed global, multi-donor grants for eminent foundations like Ford
Foundation (USA), International Development Research Centre (Canada), Global Affairs Canada,
Hewlett Foundation (USA), FCDO (UK), Gates Foundation and Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs. He
has managed grant size of over $50 Million made to over 100 organisations and think tanks across
15 countries in Asia, Europe and Africa, including to leading organisations, start-up incubation
centres and social enterprises such as NCAER, ICRIER, IEG, NLU Delhi, IIT-D, SEWA and ISDM.
He has published internationally, including books on social sciences from Oxford University Press,
Sage Publishing House and numerous articles in peer-reviewed journals. He has lectured students
and faculty at INSEAD (France), University of British Columbia (Canada) and at Oxford University.
He writes speeches/articles and guides business communication for business leaders. As a trusted
advisor to business leaders, he brings to his work a very diverse and global network of trusted
relationships built over 25 years, across top international foundation, CSR, think tanks, and
development organisations, and his knowledge and understanding of policy, economics, and
development.
