Utkarsh has been actively involved in multiple research organisations, exploring the fields of Development Economics, Tribal Economics, and Political Economy. His research interests include Development Economics, Tribal Economics, and Political Economy. Before joining IFMR GSB, he worked with IIT Mandi on the ISB-DIRI project. He is passionate about using his research to develop innovative solutions for previously overlooked social and economic issues, especially those faced by people in rural and tribal regions of India. He has well-versed in both qualitative and quantitative research methods.

Professional Background:

1. Project Associate, IIT Mandi, Himachal Pradesh (May 2019 to June 2020)

Project Title: The Role of Aadhar at the Last Mile Delivery of Financial Services

Principal Investigator: Dr Puran Singh

• Responsibilities included Literature Review, preparing Survey questionnaires, Planning Primary Data Collection, Recruitment of Field Investigators, Training Field Investigators, Digitising the data collection process via survey tools like Kobo Toolbox, Onfield Data Collection monitoring, cleaning data, Analysing Data, and Report Writing

• For the primary survey, banking agents and their customers were interviewed among the ten districts of the state. From them, details of BC operations, incomes, costs, issues faced, best practices followed, and financial literacy are captured through a structured questionnaire

• Other responsibilities for the execution of the survey included lesioning with the banking agents, managing the on-field execution of the survey at various locations, interviewing the banking agents and their customers, and capturing observations from the field

Independent Research Studies at IFMR-GSB:

1. The last mile delivery of digital literacy: Impact of digital literacy on digital usage. The study found a positive impact of digital literacy on various types of digital usage. The study also looks at the policy implementation bottlenecks and delivery (with Prof Amit Das)
2. Information privacy among low-income consumers: An interplay between trust and information sharing (with Prof Vijayalakshmi C and Prof Lakshmi Kumar)

Collaborative Work at IFMR-GSB:

1. Impact of WASH facilities on children’s schooling. Does household head gender matter? Some empirical evidence from India. The paper investigates the impact of household head gender and WASH provisions on children’s schooling attainment (Link)

Paper Presentations: 

1. 3rd Annual Conference in Economics and Finance, BITS-Pilani, Hyderabad, 2021
2. 4th International Conference on Digital Economy, IIM Raipur, 2021
3. 1^st Management Colloquium, IIT Jodhpur, 2023
4. XVIII International Conference on Public Policy & Management, IIM Bangalore, India, 2023
5. 10^th International Research Conference (IEA IRC), Dublin, Ireland, 2023
6. Conference on Digitalization and Inclusive Banking: Vision for the Next 25 Years, IIT Roorkee, 2023

Paper Acceptance in International/ National Conference

1. 4^th Barcelona Conference on Education, Spain, 2023
2. DSI-Global 2023 conference, IIM Ranchi,2023

Summer School:

1. Summer Institute in Computational Social Science, Computer Science, Social Science, Research Methodologies, IIIT Hyderabad, July 2022
   • Topics learned include text as data, website scraping, digital field experiments, machine learning, NLP, multimodal analysis, analysis of citizen-centric data, research methodologies, data and misinformation, and ethics

Utkarsh is a passionate and curious student who is always eager to learn and grow. He is interested in exploring the world around him and understanding the community’s issues. His curiosity has driven him to pursue various interests, from cars to different cultures. He has a strong desire to make a difference and is excited to take on any challenge that comes his way.

Academic Background:

1. MA in Development Studies (2017-2019). Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Mumbai
2. BE in Computer Science (2011-2015). School of Engineering and Technology, Jain University, Bangalore.
3. Diploma in Cyber Laws, Government Law College, Mumbai