Nilesh is an urbanist with over 20 years of experience in policy, planning, knowledge development and delivery of large scale urban programs. His work has focused on a wide array of themes such as urban climate action, city planning, governance reforms, urban finance, PPPs and capacity building. He has worked across government institutions like the National Institute of Urban Affairs and the National Institute of Public Finance and Policy, as well as private consulting firms and not-for-profits like IPE Global and IDFC Foundation.
In his previous roles, Nilesh led the implementation of several flagship assignments such as the Master Plan for Delhi 2041, the Urban20 National Technical Secretariat during India’s G20 presidency, set up of India's first climate-focused Public-Private Partnership (PPP) Project Preparation Facility, and worked on the development of the first Livability Standards for Cities. Nilesh has also coordinated projects for the United Nations Development Program, United Nations Institute for Training and Research and Asian Development Bank, and has led the roll out of national capacity building initiatives including, the training of city officials under the Smart Cities and Atal Mission for Rejuvenation and Urban Transformation Missions, the Regional Capacity Building Hubs program under Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission, and the National PPP Capacity Building Programme for the Department of Economic Affairs
A trained architect from Kamla Raheja Vidyanidhi Institute for Architecture and Environmental Studies, Mumbai (2001), Nilesh also has a master’s degree in urban planning from School of Planning and Architecture, New Delhi (2007).