Arun Varma – Group Head (Health Initiatives), IL&FS Education and Technology Solutions


Arun Varma has been focusing on mainstreaming some of the Millennium Development Goals with special emphasis on Health Systems Strengthening. The efforts are mainly focused on multiple stakeholder participation for “Affordable and Accessible” public healthcare for the citizens. He established the Health Initiatives business at IL&FS and currently heads it. Under his leadership, IL&FS received the mandate of the first ever private Principal Recipient (PR) mandate from The Global Funds (GFATM), Geneva for Prevention of Parent to Child Transmission (PPTCT) of HIV/AIDS.

Arun also has significant experience in working the area of HIV/AIDS. His main experiences are in widening the stakeholder net for HIV/AIDS by enhancing the efficiency in the conventional tools like Behavioural Change Communications. To minimize stigma discrimination for PLHAs, Arun has worked with Faith Based Organizations and other streams such as ‘The Art of Living Foundation’, ‘Ramakrishna Mission’ and ‘Baptist Churches Alliance of Nagaland’. With this objective, he has produced/directed documentary films on HIV/AIDS supported by Public Service Broadcasting Trust (PSBT), which have been broadcast on Doordarshan and played at several socially responsible film festivals.

Arun is a LEAD Fellow and a visiting faculty member at the Institute of Management Technologies (IMT), Ghaziabad for Business Ethics and Corporate Social Responsibility. He has been educated at Asian Institute of Technology (AIT), Bangkok and holds a doctoral degree in Environmental Economics from Cambridge University, UK.