Ramesh Ramanathan
Co-founder
Janaagraha

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Ramesh Ramanathan

Ramesh Ramanathan’s work over the past decade has been focused on socal issues in India, addressing two different aspects of India’s urban challenges – governance and urban poverty.  He works on these through through two separate organizations: the first, as co-founder of Janaagraha Centre for Citizenship and Democracy, a non-profit organisation focused on improving urban governance in India. The second is as Chairman of Janalakshmi Financial Services, an urban microfinance institution.

Ramesh works closely with government on urban issues in a pro-bono capacity.  His current positions with government include being the National Technical Advisor, Government of India for the Jawarharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission, the largest urban initiative in the country’s history; the Principal Advisor, State Urban Agenda for the State of Rajasthan; member of the High Powered Expert Committee on Urban Finances. 

Prior to these social initiatives, Ramesh worked with Citibank in New York and London. When he left to begin his social activities in India, he was MD and Head, European Corporate Derivatives, and a member of the Global Markets Leadership Team, collectively running a business with an annual revenue of over $1 billion.

Ramesh has an MS in Physics from BITS Pilani India; an MBA from Yale University, and is a Certified Financial Analyst (CFA) from the Association of Investment Management & Research (AIMR).

Ramesh has co-authored a book titled, 'Urban Poverty Alleviation in India' & writes regularly about public governance issues in leading national publications.  He was nominated as one of the Young Global Leaders by the World Economic Forum in 2007.