Pawan Beniwal

About

Calm, direct,and close to the ground.

A consultant who has worked on both sides of the policy pipeline — the leader’s office at the top, the field at the bottom.

My story

I am a Senior Consultant at GDi Partners, where I work on policy implementation and design. My focus is livelihoods and financial inclusion under the National Rural Livelihoods Mission, and, more recently, air quality.

It was not a straight line. I began in fashion retail, building menswear brands at Blackberrys, Calvin Klein and United Colors of Benetton. That is where I learned to read demand, respect the numbers and run a business for profit. An MBA at the Indian School of Business then opened the way to a technology start-up, where I led brand and go-to-market, and afterwards to public life.

At Showtime Consulting I moved into the inner workings of state politics: designing the brand architecture of leading government figures, branding high-stakes government initiatives, and working closely with state political leadership and the Government of Andhra Pradesh. It was an education in how decisions really get made, and how quickly a good idea can die without a good story and a good delivery plan.

So I made a deliberate switch: from shaping how policy is seen to shaping how it is designed and delivered. Today I advise political leaders and engage with ministers across states on effective governance.

How I work

I try to be the person in the room who is calm, direct and unbiased about the evidence — including when it is inconvenient. I prefer clear writing to jargon, and pilots and data to assumptions.

Roots

I am from Surewala village in Tibbi Tehsil, Hanumangarh district, near the point where Rajasthan, Haryana and Punjab meet. I am an agriculturalist, too: I grow rice and other crops there. It keeps me anchored to the people policy is meant to serve.

Education

Economics, design and business

Three lenses I use together: how economies behave, how products and brands are built, and how organisations are led.

2010 – 2013
BA (Honours) EconomicsSri Venkateswara College, University of Delhi
2014 – 2016
Master of Fashion ManagementNational Institute of Fashion Technology (NIFT)
2022 – 2023
PGP (MBA)Indian School of Business · Marketing; Strategy & Leadership

Want to work together?

I am open to advisory work, collaborations and conversations on governance, rural finance, livelihoods and air quality.

Get in touch