
Shrayana Bhattacharya
Shrayana Bhattacharya is a Senior Economist with the World Bank’s Social Protection team in South Asia, working with government agencies to strengthen social safety nets and economic inclusion programs in India and Bangladesh. Trained in development economics at Delhi University and Harvard Kennedy School, she led various research projects with SEWA Union on women working in the Indian informal economy before joining the World Bank in 2013. Based on fifteen years of research, her debut book of non-fiction ‘Desperately Seeking Shah Rukh : India’s Lonely Young Women and the Search for Intimacy and Independence’ was published in India (2021) and Pakistan (2022). She has won several prizes for her writing, and was also shortlisted for the Sahitya Akademi Award in 2023.