Abir is a Co- Founder & practice head of competition law at Sarvada Legal. He has represented clients on competition law related issues across all industry segments including E-commerce, radio taxis, oil and gas, aviation, automobiles, stock exchange, entertainment, government procurement, liquor, fast moving consumer goods and chemicals among others. He has advised clients on both contentious and non-contentious matters. Abir has represented clients on issues relating to competition law across various forums including the Hon’ble Supreme Court of India, Hon’ble High Court of Delhi, Hon’ble High Court of Rajasthan, Hon’ble High Court of Karnataka, National Company Law Tribunal in Delhi, Hyderabad and Chennai, National Company Law Appellate Tribunal, Competition Commission of India and erstwhile Competition Appellate Tribunal. He primarily focuses on antitrust litigation. He is a leading author, having authored the following:

• Competition law in India: A practical guide (Second Edition) – Wolters Kluwer in March 2024 (ISBN: 97890403531373)
• Competition law in India (Second Edition with 2023 amendments) – Eastern Law House (ISBN: 9788171773916)
• Competition law in India: A practical guide – Wolters Kluwer in April 2016 (ISBN: 9789041161390)

Abhivardhan is a Technology Law and an AI Governance Specialist. He is honoured to serve as the President & Managing Trustee of the Indian Society of Artificial Intelligence and Law and as the Managing Partner at Indic Pacific Legal Research. Throughout his journey, he has gained valuable experience in Technology Law & Policy, Artificial Intelligence Governance, International Space Law, Technology & Intellectual Property Law, Digital Competition Law, and Indo-Pacific Studies.With deep respect for the field, He has been fortunate to contribute to esteemed law, technology, and policy publications & forums, including G20 Brazil (Startup20 2024), the South Asian University, Commonwealth Legal Education Association and others. His book, "Artificial Intelligence Ethics and International Law: An Introduction" (2nd edition, 2024, originally published in 2019), modestly represents his exploration of the important connection between artificial intelligence and ethical considerations. Emphasizing the significance of an Indic approach to AI Ethics, Abhivardhan aims to bring diverse perspectives on AI and technology law to the table.He is also the author of India's first privately proposed artificial intelligence regulation, AIACT.IN (currently at Version 5). If you are interested in connecting and engaging with his pragmatic insights, you can find Abhivardhan on LinkedIn.

Aura García Pabón is a Competition Expert in the OECD’s Competition Division. She manages the statistics workstream of the division, works on new member country accession to the OECD and does research on different topics, mostly related to merger control. She is an economist from the Universidad del Rosario in Colombia with a MSc in economics, competition and regulation from Tilburg University. Before joining the OECD, she worked for the Colombian Competition Authority, first as an economic analyst and then as an advisor to the Superintendent of Industry and Commerce regarding antitrust investigations and merger reviews.

Dr. Derek Ireland is a highly experienced economist with nearly six decades of work in both the Canadian public and private sectors. He earned a BA in Economics and Asian Studies from the University of British Columbia in 1968 and later completed an MA in Economics at Carleton University in the mid-1970s. After many years of professional experience, he returned to academia and obtained a PhD in Public Policy from Carleton University in 2009. His doctoral research focused on the development of competition policy and law in India and its relationship with the country’s business groups. Over the past three decades, Dr. Ireland has specialized in law and economics, particularly in areas such as competition policy, consumer protection, regulatory reform, trade policy, intellectual property, and infrastructure development. His work also examines how these policies interact and the challenges faced by developing and emerging economies when modernizing their legal and regulatory systems. He held senior government roles, including Director of Economics and International Affairs at the Canadian Competition Bureau (1990–1995) and Director of Consumer Policy Research and Acting Director-General at the Office of Consumer Affairs (1995–1998). Internationally, he has completed over 30 consulting assignments, especially in China, and has worked in several other developing countries across Asia and Africa. He has also contributed to regional initiatives such as advising the Southern Africa Development Community on competition and consumer protection frameworks. In recent years, he has run his own policy consulting firm and served as a Lecturer and Fellow at Carleton University. His research interests include behavioral law and economics, and more recently, the governance and regulation of artificial intelligence, particularly its implications for competition, consumer protection, and privacy.

Dr Sangeeta Shah Bhardwaj is a Professor of Information Management, Dean Executive Graduate Program at MDI Gurgaon and Faculty representative member BOG MDI Gurgaon.. She has served as an Acting Director at MDI Gurgaon from Jan 2023 to Oct 2023. Prof Sangeeta is the founding Chairperson, Center of ML/AI and Business Applications. Under her leadership, the prestigious project to conduct a Market Study on ‘Artificial Intelligence and Competition’ under the aegis of CCI was completed. Other project in the centre include Proof of Concepts for predicting demand and inventory optimization for a multinational company, ERP consultancy for SAP HANA Rise migration and evaluation of vendor selection for Digital transformation project of large PSUs. She teaches courses in AI Intelligence and Machine Learning with the objective to prepare students to provide AI leadership in organizations. She also teaches IT Consulting and Agile Project Management to prepare the students to take up challenging consulting assignments in IT organization for the client. She has more than 50 research papers to her credit.

Leonard Otuonye Ugbajah is a trade and competition lawyer who has advised governments and development partners on negotiations as well as legal and policy reforms in these fields since 2007. As a consultant under various technical assistance projects, he has advised the Government of Nigeria on negotiating the EU Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA), ratifying the AfCFTA, enacting the Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Act (FCCPA), reforming subnational ease of doing business under the Presidential Enabling Business Environment Council (PEBEC), etc. His recent engagements include advising the Governments of Rwanda, Ghana, The Gambia, Liberia and Sierra Leone on competition law reforms; and the ECOWAS Regional Competition Authority (ERCA) on implementing the AfCFTA Competition Policy Protocol. Leonard is a Council Member at the ECOWAS Regional Competition Authority (ERCA) as well as the founder of the Centre for Trade and Business Environment Advocacy (CTBA), Principal Consultant at TBE Advisory Ltd and the Convener of Competition Policy and Law Africa Network (CPLAN). Leonard holds an LLB from the University of Nigeria, Nsukka (UNN) and was called to the Nigerian Bar. He also holds a Master of Laws (LLM) in Competition Law and a Postgraduate Diploma in International Business Law (both from the University of London) and a Master’s degree in International Affairs and Strategic Studies from the Nigerian Defence Academy, where his research focused on power dynamics in international trade relations under the WTO.

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Gowree Gokhale is a practicing lawyer with over 29 years of experience. She holds an LLB and LLM with specializations in Intellectual Property, Labour, Taxation, and Consumer Protection. Additionally, she is a qualified Solicitor, has a Diploma in Taxation Laws, and is a Registered Patent and Trade Mark Attorney. Gowree’s core practice areas span intellectual property, data protection, cyber laws, litigation, arbitration, M&A, joint ventures, consumer protection, and advertising. She has extensive experience advising Indian and international clients across a broad spectrum of industries, including technology, media and entertainment, telecom, e-commerce, gaming, fintech, medtech, edtech, pharma, medical devices, food, cosmetics, and chemicals. Her work includes strategy, structuring, legal and regulatory advisory, as well as representation in corporate transactions, litigation, and arbitration. She has played a pivotal role in shaping policy for the TMT and Pharma industries, advising on issues related to intermediaries, social media companies, e-commerce platforms, online content, gaming, privacy, advertising, data protection, and cybersecurity. She has been a member of the task force appointed by the Ministry of Consumer Affairs on digital dark patterns, greenwashing, and surrogate advertising. Additionally, she serves as the Co-chair of FICCI’s Task Force on Privacy and Data Security. Gowree’s contributions have been widely recognized. She has been listed in the Hall of Fame (TMT) by Legal 500 for three consecutive years (2022–2024), featured among the Top 100 Indian Lawyers by the Indian Business Law Journal for several years, and won the BW Global Legal Leaders Award 2023–24 as India’s Best Fintech Lawyer (Apex of Excellence). She also received the Legal 500 Lawyer of the Year 2024 (India) award for her data protection practice and has been ranked as an Eminent Practitioner (Band 1) in Chambers and Partners 2025. Driven by her belief in empowering the next generation, Gowree has been a visiting faculty member at various academic institutions. She has delivered lectures at Yashada, Pune, and ILS Law College for government officers. A prolific writer and speaker, she has authored numerous research reports and articles, and regularly shares her insights at both national and international forums. She is frequently quoted in mainstream media for her candid and expert legal commentary. LinkedIn Profile: https://www.linkedin.com/in/gowree-gokhale-9337634b

Professor Payal Malik is an economist specializing in competition law/antitrust, regulation, and public policy. Most recently she was Economic Advisor and Head of the Economics Division at the Competition Commission of India (CCI), a position she held for ten years between 2012-2023. In these roles, she has advised CCI on the economics of competition law across an expansive range of markets; interfaced with sector regulators, government, industry, legal and the international competition community; led case teams on competition assessment of M&As and antitrust enforcement matters; and advised the Commission on judicial review of cases before the appellate tribunal and the Supreme Court of India. Professor Malik has considerable experience in the economics of digital and ecommerce markets. Notably, she was the Convener of the Working Group on New Age Economy and Bigdata constituted by the Ministry of Corporate Affairs, Government of India (GoI), for the competition law review committee (CLRC). She was also nominated as a member of the task force of the GoI formulating the ecommerce policy of India and member of a sub-group of the Committee on Digital Competition law (CDCL), devising an ex-ante regulatory mechanism for digital markets through a separate legislation. Additionally, Prof Malik has led several Market Studies of the Commission including in the e-commerce, pharmaceutical, telecommunications, institutional investment, and entertainment sectors. She has interfaced with pharmaceutical, telecom, and coal ministries of the GoI to develop competition compliant policies and legislations guided by the Commission’s Market Studies. Formerly, she has been a visiting Senior Research Fellow LIRNEasia and Senior Consultant, NCAER, Delhi. Her professional collaborations have been with OECD, Orbicom, IDEI, University of Toulouse, Technical University, Delft, Netherlands, University of Québec at Montreal, CEPR, JRC, European Commission, IPTS Seville, ICEGEC, Hungary, Department of Information Technology, TRAI, Ministry of Power, Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, Planning Commission of India, CSO, India, WSP-SA, World Bank and AFD, Paris. She has several years of research and economic consulting experience in network Industries such as power and telecommunication, ICTs, Innovation systems, and Infrastructure. She was on the team that drafted the Electricity Act of India ushering competition into the sector.

Manas Kumar Chaudhuri, an anti-trust litigator, advises Indian and overseas clients on Competition Law & Policy and related legal/regulatory issues. He has worked as the first Additional Registrar of the Competition Commission of India and was also associated with the drafting of various statutory Regulations under the Competition Act during his stay in the CCI. Prior to joining the profession as a full-time lawyer, Manas served as a Civil Judge in the West Bengal State Judicial Services. He also worked as the Joint Director (Legal) Monopolies and Restrictive Trade Practices Commission. He is the National Chair of Competition Law Council of the ASSOCHAM and Member of the CII Legal Task Force and Regulatory Law Committees and has been appointed as the Vice-Chair of the IPBA Competition Law Council for 2018-2020.

Rutuja Pol is a Partner – Government Affairs at Ikigai Law, with over 11 years of experience at the intersection of technology, law, and public policy. She holds an LL.M. from Georgetown University Law Center and a B.S.L., LL.B. from Deccan Education Society’s Law College. She leads a multidisciplinary team and specializes in stakeholder engagement, consensus building, and strategic partnerships between industry and government. Rutuja has extensive experience working with regulators such as the Indian Council of Medical Research, Central Drugs Standard Control Organization, and the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, and has built strong linkages with the National Health Authority. She has supported clients in navigating regulatory frameworks, including initiatives like MedTech Mitra for health-tech startups. She regularly engages with senior government stakeholders, including NITI Aayog, and has contributed to global and national policy forums such as the G20 Digital Economy Working Group and the IndiaAI Impact Summit. Rutuja has led multiple projects including international projects on AI in healthcare, such as ‘Project Reg-AiH’ on bridging the gapes in regulatory approaches in AI enabled health tech and ‘Project Build’ focusing on regulatory alignment, inclusion of AI in Healthcare, and cross-border policy recommendations in emerging technologies.