Board of Trustees

Madhu Pandit Dasa was born in Nagercoil, India. He completed his B.Tech in Civil Engineering from IIT-Mumbai in the year 1980. While he was doing his M.Tech course in IIT-Mumbai in 1981, he dedicated himself to the service of humanity by becoming a full-time member of ISKCON. In 1994, he initiated an integrated social development project for the benefit of the rural people of Mysuru and Mandya districts. A model, prototype organic farm based on natural and earth-friendly farming methods along with an internationally accredited farmer-training centre has been setup in the 110-acre land on the banks of river Kaveri in Srirangapatam. He designed the first centralised and mechanised kitchen of Akshaya Patra, to provide mid-day meals to underprivileged children in the Government schools of Bengaluru Rural District during July 2000.

Chanchalapathi Dasa was born in Bengaluru, India. While an undergraduate student in PSG College of Technology, Coimbatore, he became interested in the message and mission of Srila Prabhupada, the founder-acharya of ISKCON. Later he joined the Indian Institute of Science, Bengaluru for the Masters programme in Electrical Communication Engineering. In 1984 he became a full-time dedicated member of ISKCON, Bengaluru and soon became the Vice President. He has been involved in the implementation of the various programmes of ISKCON, Bengaluru and presently serves as the Vice Chairman of The Akshaya Patra Foundation.

Satya Gaura Chandra Dasa is a Gold Medalist in B.Tech Mechanical at Jawaharlal Nehru Technological University – Kakinada. He eventually did his M.Tech from IIT-Chennai and worked in a multinational IT firm in Bengaluru for a couple of years before deciding to dedicate his life to serving humanity. The first Akshaya Patra kitchen in unified Andhra Pradesh (now Telangana) was set up in Hyderabad in 2008 under his leadership. He also oversaw the setting up of the Foundation’s high-tech mega kitchen in Kandi, Telangana, in association with the Infosys Foundation in 2018. Currently, he is serving as the President for Akshaya Patra Andhra Pradesh and Telangana.

Jaganmohan Krishna Dasa was born in the Prakasham (Ongole) district of Andhra Pradesh. He holds a Bachelor degree in Electronics and Communication Engineering. Inspired by the teachings of Srila Prabhupada he joined ISKCON Bengaluru in the year 2000. In 2005 he served Akshaya Patra as a Programme Coordinator for the Jaipur unit, where he was involved in the kitchen development from inception. He had also been involved in the operations of the Vrindavan and Gujarat units; and carried out the establishment and running of the Ahmedabad, Surat, Vadodara & Nathdwara kitchen projects. Having a keen faculty for design and innovation, Jaganmohan Krishna Dasa implemented various development initiatives in the Akshaya Patra kitchens. Two noteworthy accomplishments were the enhancement of the dal cooker capacity from 1,200 litres to 3,000 litres, and their subsequent horizontal deployment to other kitchens; along with the design and production of the Sukhdi making machines in Gujarat. Keeping with the latest in food technology, he studied and implemented innovative alternatives from Germany and the Tetrapak PDC(Product Development Centre) and factory in Sweden. Presently he serves as the President of Akshaya Patra, Gujarat region.

Bharatarshabha Dasa chose the path of spirituality in 1992 while studying B.Tech in Computer Science from REC Calicut. At Akshaya Patra, he has been handling various important areas related to public affairs, strategic outreach, policy planning and implementation, programme management and humanitarian food relief. He has been instrumental in the commencement of the organisation’s feeding operations in various parts of India, including Karnataka, Uttar Pradesh, Delhi and NCR region, Uttarakhand and Madhya Pradesh. Bharatarshabha Dasa currently serves as the National President & Trustee for Akshaya Patra’s feeding initiatives in Delhi NCR, Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand.

Anil Swarup is an Indian author and retired Indian Administrative Service officer of Uttar Pradesh cadre from 1981 batch. Mr. Anil Swarup has served in various capacities in his 38 years of career and later went on to become the Secretary to the Government of India. He has served in various key positions for both the Union Government and the Government of Uttar Pradesh, as Education Secretary of India, Coal Secretary of India, Additional Secretary in the Cabinet Secretariat of India, Additional Secretary of Labour & Empowerment, Export Commissioner in the Ministry of Commerce & Industry of India and as the District Magistrate of Lakhimpur Kheri during the Babri Masjid-Ram Janmabhoomi agitation under the former Chief Minister Kalyan Singh.

Anil Swarup is a retired Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officer of Uttar Pradesh cadre 1981 batch. In a career spanning 38 years, he has held various assignments with the Government of India as well as the Government of Uttar Pradesh, including the Secretary for Coal from 2014 to 2016 and Secretary for School Education between 2016 and 2018. During his tenure as the Secretary School Education, he fostered public-private partnerships to improve quality of school education by involving NGOs. He holds a Master’s degree in Political Science from Allahabad University and has authored two books, Ethical Dilemmas of a Civil Servant and Not Just a Civil Servant. He is the Founder Chairman of Nexus of Good: an initiative towards recognising positive action and providing inspiration to the society at large to replicate them.

V. Balakrishnan is currently Founder and Chairman of Exfinity, a Private Equity Fund focused on investing in the technology space. Balakrishnan has significant experience in leadership positions in the finance domain, with expertise in Corporate Finance, International Taxation, Risk Management and Mergers & Acquisitions. He served as Head of Infosys BPO, Finacle and the India Business Unit, Chief Financial Officer of Infosys Ltd., and also as Chairman of the Board at Infosys BPO Limited and Chairman of Infosys Lodestone. He has been a recipient of the 'Best CFO' award from CNBC and Finance Asia. He won the Best CFO (Information Technology, Media, Communication and Entertainment) award from the ICAI (The Institute of Chartered Accountants of India) in 2008. He serves as an Independent Director of Tejas Networks Ltd. (formerly Tejas Networks India Ltd.). He is also the Chairman of MicroGraam which is a peer-to-peer lending platform that empowers rural entrepreneurs with access to loans from socially minded investors. Balakrishnan received a B.Sc. from the University of Madras and is an Associate Member of Institute of Chartered Accountants of India, Institute of Cost and Works Accountants of India and Institute of Company Secretaries of India. He joined the Akshaya Patra board of trustees in June 2006. He presently also serves as the Chairman of Akshaya Patra Audit Committee.

KV Chowdary is an officer of the 1978 batch of Indian Revenue Service (IRS) who has served as the Chairman of the Central Vigilance Commission (CVC) and the Chairman of Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT). He has worked in the Department of Revenue as an Under Secretary and the Department of Company Affairs as a Deputy Secretary. A graduate in Mathematics from Loyola College, Chennai, and Post-Graduate in Mathematics from IIT Madras, he has held several executive positions in the Income Tax Department. An eloquent orator, he regularly addresses trade associations and chambers of commerce, including FICCI, CII and Indo American Chamber of Commerce, delivering talks on issues relating to integrity, anti-corruption, transparency and governance, etc. Currently, he holds directorship in CCL Products (India) Limited and Reliance Industries Limited.

Raj P. Kondur is the Founder and CEO of Kondur Corp., a multi-sector investment holding company with interests in infrastructure, real estate, mineral resources, IT/ITES, and healthcare. Raj previously co-founded and was Managing Director of ChrysCapital, India's first, largest, and most successful independent private equity fund with US$ 2.75 billion under management. At ChrysCapital, he led investments in the IT and BPO sectors that have led to the creation of over 50,000 jobs and were among the firm’s most successful investments. Raj Kondur is a Harvard graduate and was a Management Consultant with Morgan Stanley and A.T. Kearney in the USA. At Morgan Stanley, he was also the part of seven member team responsible for investing the $1 billion Princes Gate Fund and was a member of the firm’s Mergers & Acquisitions Department focused on private equity firms. Raj is actively involved with several non-profit organisations in India. He has been engaged with The Akshaya Patra Foundation since April 2002. He is also the member of Akshaya Patra’s Audit Committee.

MS Unnikrishnan is the CEO of IITB – Monash Research Academy and the former Managing Director & CEO of Thermax, an engineering company providing sustainable solutions in energy and the environment. He is a mechanical engineer from Visvesvaraya National Institute of Technology (VNIT) – Nagpur and has done Advanced Management Programme from the Harvard Business School, USA. He has served on various policy-making and consultative bodies. He has co-chaired the CII’s National Committee on Industrial Relations and chaired the Capital Goods Sectoral Skills Council of FICCI, CII’s National Committee of Capital Goods & Engineering and BRICS Business Council.

G Raghuram was a faculty member at IIM-Ahmedabad for 32 years. He has done his B.Tech from IIT-Madras and PGDM from IIM-Ahmedabad. He has a PhD from Kellogg Management School, Northwestern University, USA. His specialisations include infrastructure and transport systems and logistics and supply chain management. Raghuram has to his credit six co-authored books, numerous journal articles, papers, newspaper and magazine articles, and case studies. Among his many accolades are the ‘MC Puri Memorial Award’ for contribution to operational research in India in 2016 and the ‘Academician of the Year’ by the Chartered Institute of Logistics and Transport in 2012.

Vidya Shah has previously worked with large financial institutions such as ICICI, Peregrine and NM Rothschild India as an investment banker. She holds a postgraduate degree in Master of Business Administration from IIM-Ahmedabad and a graduate degree in B.Com from RA Podar College of Commerce and Economics, Mumbai. In 2019, Vidya received recognition as India’s Top 100 Women in Finance by the Association of International Wealth Management of India (AIWMI). Furthermore, she was conferred the Woman Achiever of the Year Award by ABP Group during BFSI Awards in 2017 and the Financial Inclusion Award by CNBC TV 18 in 2016.