Rama Bijapurkar is India's most respected thought leader on market strategy and India's consumer economy. She has an independent consulting practice and works across sectors and organization types, describing her mission as 'bringing market and customer focus to business strategy'.

In addition to her consulting practice, Rama is committed to improving the levels of corporate governance in India, and has served as an independent director on the boards of several of India's blue chip companies. These include Axis Bank, Bharat Petroleum, CRISIL, Godrej Consumer Products, Infosys, ICICI Prudential Life Insurance, Janalakshmi financial Services, Mahindra Holidays and Resorts, Mahindra & Mahindra Financial services Ltd, Redington Gulf FTZ, Titan Industries etc.

She also serves on the Governing Councils of the Banking Codes and Standards Board of India and the Insurance Information Board and is a member of the Eminent Persons Advisory Group of the Competition Commission of India.

She has been a regular visiting faculty at the Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad, her alma mater, and is a member of its Board of Governors. She is a senior fellow, Centre for Emerging Market Economies, Fletcher School, Tufts University.

Ms. Bijapurkar is a dominant voice in the media on business and policy issues in her areas of interest and work. She is the author of the internationally acclaimed best selling book on Consumer India, ''We are like that only : Understanding the logic of Consumer India '' (Indian edition, Penguin; international English and Chinese editions titled ''Winning in the Indian market'' , John Wiley ). She has most recently published a sequel to this, titled ''A Never- Before World : Tracking the evolution of Consumer India'' (Penguin). She is also the author of ''Customer in the Boardroom : Crafting Customer Based Business Strategy'' (Sage), based on the course she teaches at IIM Ahmedabad, and her consulting work.

Ms. Bijapurkar holds a Bsc Hons degree in Physics from Delhi University and a post graduate diploma in management from IIM Ahmedabad. Prior to setting up her own consulting practice, Rama has worked for over two decades in leading market research and management consulting companies.