Department of Economics

KET'S V.G. Vaze College of Arts, Science and Commerce (Autonomous), Mulund (East), Mumbai-400081

Faculty

Dr. Vaishali Dhammapathee

Controller of Examinations

Memeber CDC

Head & Associate Professor

Department of Economics

Strategize and lead Quality Assurance initiatives in the functioning of the faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences in prestigious KET’s V.G. Vaze college (Autonomous), leveraging 20 years of expertise in Teaching and learning of Economics at UG and PG level. Mindful scholar towards poor and developmental research

Dynamic educationalist with over two decades of experience in implementing the vision, strategy, and roadmap for development of curricular and co-curricular aspects of College and University. A strong believer in social upliftment through knowledge sharing and works toward creating awareness among people about Society- Economy – Sustainability and Righteous path of living. As Dean, Head of Department (HoD) and College development Committee (CDC) member have formulated and implemented a progressive New Education Policy (NEP) 2020 structure. Efficiently resolved conflicts within departments and different stakeholders.

Ms. Trishna Saraf

Assistant Professor, Department of Economics

Trishna Saraf is an economics professional with expertise in International Trade, Macroeconomics, and Quantitative Analysis. She holds a Master of Science in Economics with specialization in International Trade from the Symbiosis School of Economics, Pune. She has successfully qualified the UGC-NET examination in Economics.

She is actively engaged in curriculum development, departmental academic planning, and mentoring undergraduate students. Her teaching approach strongly integrates theory with real-world data and policy applications, especially in the courses of macroeconomics, international economics, and econometrics.

Her research work reflects a blend of theoretical understanding and empirical inquiry. She has presented papers at national and international conferences hosted by institutions such as K.J. Somaiya College, Vaze College, and the IIHSG Delhi. Her publications include work on economic literacy and policy awareness among students, an empirical study of India’s revealed comparative advantage in the textile and chemicals sector, and a book chapter analysing the geopolitical feasibility of Korean reunification through the lens of game theory. She has also been involved in multidisciplinary research projects with real-time policy relevance.

Trishna is proficient in multiple econometric and statistical software tools. She works with STATA, R-Studio, and Microsoft Excel for data analysis, forecasting, model estimation, and policy simulations. Her software skills extend to handling large secondary datasets, conducting regression-based studies, preparing technical reports, and executing end-to-end quantitative research.

With a strong inclination towards policy research, analytical interpretation, and academic training, she has also conducted certificate courses in quantitative techniques and contributed to student research guidance. Her work bridges academic rigor with practical policy applications, and her specialised skills in econometrics, international economics, and applied data analysis form the core of her professional strengths.

Educational Qualifications

Dr. Vaishali Dhammapathee Ms. Trishna Saraf

Ph. D, M.A. Economics, SET M.Sc. Economics , NET

Dr. Vaishali Dhammapathee

Dynamic educationalist with over two decades of experience in implementing the vision, strategy, and roadmap for development of curricular and co-curricular aspects of College and University. A strong believer in social upliftment through knowledge sharing and works toward creating awareness among people about Society- Economy – Sustainability and Righteous path of living. As Dean, Head of Department (HoD) and College development Committee (CDC) member have formulated and implemented a progressive New Education Policy (NEP) 2020 structure. Efficiently resolved conflicts within departments and different stakeholders.

Key Skills:

· Strategic Leadership:

Ø Provided leadership and technical guidance to a versatile team across eight departments of Humanities and Social Sciences.

Ø Formulated and managed the development and implementation of quality goals for College within the framework of UGC, University of Mumbai (UoM) and Govt of Maharashtra.

Ø Successfully defined and implemented strategies for NEP 2020 across our college.

· Technical Proficiency:

Ø In-depth knowledge of Economics theories and policy implementations.

Ø Developed the Syllabi of Three Year Degree Program as Academic Council member and Chaiperson of Board of Studies.

Ø Contributed as a Member, Syllabus Committee for TYBA Papers ‘International Economics Theory and Policy in 2012-13 for University of Mumbai

Ø Provided thought leadership for the procurement and defined scope of new customized software’s functionalities and requirement coverage across the different verticals like Admission, Examination, and Result declaration.

· Team Management and Development:

Ø Adept at pyramid team management, talent acquisition, and capability building.

Ø Skilled in conflict resolution, team mentoring, and supervision, fostering a collaborative and high-performance work environment.

Ø Expertise in performing roles such as Convenor, Coordinator, and In-charge for committees like Admission, Academic Calendar, Examination, NAAC steering, Special Cell, Prize/Scholarship distribution, NEP core and Internal committee.

· Research Acumen:

Ø Presented and published sixteen research papers in Peer reviewed, UGC Approved, UGC Care-Listed National and International journals. Participated in various seminars and workshops to improve teaching and research skills.

Ø The publications are available at Google Scholar profile.

· Process Optimization:

Ø Identified improvement areas of different admission and evaluation strategies, provided timely solutions and regularized them across different departments.

· Student Engagement:

Ø Extensive experience in organizing and supervising different curricular and co-curricular events with students and parents.

Ø Successfully implemented innovative teaching -learning and evaluation methods.

Ø Annually organized Industrial /Institutional visits to explore the functionality of industry and society.

Ø Groomed students for inter collegiate and university level competitions.

Ø Published several research articles with students as co-authors.

Ø Introduced the Internship opportunities to BA students for building holistic and employability skills.

Ø Showcased consulting capabilities, planned interactive activities for intra and inter department members and students.

· Social Commitment:

Ø Delivered several public lectures on topics like women and Dhamma, Dhamma and sustainable development, Indian constitution and Dhamma, current socio-economic situation and future of society.

Ø Mentoring students of backward communities.

· Knowledge Sharing:

Ø Delivered Guest lectures and worked as Judge in various colleges to provide subject and research guidance to students and junior teachers.

· Technology Exposure:

Ø Proficiency in handling software like SPSS, MS Teams, Word, Excel, PPT, AI-Chat GPT, Bard, Google Classroom.

Education

· Ph.D. (Economics, University of Mumbai, 2023)

· S.E.T. (Economics, State of Maharashtra, 2004)

· M.A (Economics, University of Mumbai, 2003)

· B.A. (Economics, University of Mumbai, 2000)

Awards

· University Gold Medal, “Avishkar 2016’’, University level competition in Teachers’ category (December 24, 2016)

· Inter-university Silver Medal, “Avishkar 2016’’, Inter – University level competition in Teachers’ category (January 27, 2017)

Work Experience

Associate Professor, HoD, KET’s V.G. Vaze college (Autonomous) July'05 – Till Date

· Successfully managed and led Dept of Economics and Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences.

· Contributed in preparation and execution of NEP 2020.

· Contributed in Self-Study Report generation for recent two cycles of NAAC.

· Contributed as CDC member for the improvement of functioning of the college.

· Performed in the capacity of member, convenor and in-charge at various committees.

· Published 16 research papers.

Assistant Professor, Siddharth College of Commerce and Economics Mar’04 - July'05

· Contributed in regular roles and responsibilities of Economics department member.

· Worked as NSS Program officer.

· Performed in the capacity of member at various committees.

· Engaged in teaching learning of subject Foundation Course

Assistant Professor, Siddharth College of Commerce and Economics Sep’03 - Mar’04

· Contributed in regular roles and responsibilities of Economics department member.

· Performed in the capacity of member at various committees.

Trishna Saraf

Mobile No. = 9004050325 Email Id=trishnasaraf@gmail.com

Career Objective

I aspire to work in the field of International Economics and Finance and I have a thorough understanding of the subject. I have prior experience in research and I can manage all economic research work as well as preparing lesson plans and presentations for wide ranging topics under the syllabus. I am knowledgeable in internal administrative tasks. My writing and communication skills are exemplary.

Education

UGC - NET Qualified (Economics, NTA- Government of India)

M.Sc. Economics; Symbiosis School of Economics

2023

2020

Symbiosis International University, Pune

Specialization in International Trade; graduated with an aggregate of 74.6%.

B.A. in Economics; K.E.T’s V.G. Vaze College

Mumbai University, Mumbai.

Concentration in Economics; graduated with an aggregate of 82.57%.

2018

Econometrics and Quantitative Techniques, Dept. of Economics

G.D. Kelkar Skill Development Centre and Finishing School

K.E.Ts V.G. Vaze College of Arts, Science and Commerce

2017

Work Experience

Assistant Professor (Ad Hoc) , Department of Economics – K. E. T’s V.G. Vaze College of Arts, Science and Commerce (August 2023 – till date)

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Working in the capacity of a member in various college committees.

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Contributing in the regular roles and responsibilities of faculty in the Department of Economics.

Internships

Public Affairs Centre, Bengaluru (January 2021 to March 2021)

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Worked with the data team at PAC and assisted them in collection, sorting, formatting and compiling preliminary data regarding the various government indicators for the ‘Public Affairs Index (PAI) 2021’.

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Researched Central government schemes and collected time series data of last 5-6 years with respect to the Central fund allocation, central fund release, total (center & state) fund availability, total expenditure by state and number of beneficiaries.

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Researched and presented a report on Contact tracing techniques for identification of covid-19 cases and their best practices in India.

Morgan Stanley, Mumbai (February 2020 to August 2020)

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Worked directly under the VP (Scenario Analytics Department), Firm Risk Management Division.

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Wrote and presented a code using the R programming language in order to streamline the procedure of sorting and performing outlier detection (by the z-score method and K-Means clustering method) on market data variables, in order to make data/ scenario forecasting more efficient.

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Additionally, assisted the VP and Associate Analysts in FRM (scenario analytics) in daily departmental data analysis for ongoing assignments and projects

Reserve Bank of India, Mumbai (May 2019 to July 2019)

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Worked directly under the Director, International Department as Summer Intern.

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Assisted Managers and Asst. Managers under the Director, on departmental project work. Researched and summarized literature, extracted and managed data concerning the departmental projects.

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Wrote a research report on the topic- “Assessing the Probable Macroeconomic Impact of the Sino-American Trade War on the Indian Economy”.

Other Skills

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Technical: Proficient in STATA, Excel, well acquainted and comfortable with R-Studio.

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Languages known: English, Hindi, Marathi and Kashmiri.

Professional Associations and Achievements

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Conducted a 30-hour Short Term Certificate course titled ‘Quantitative Techniques for Economics’, for FYBA and SYBA students under G.D. Kelkar Skill Development Centre and Finishing School, K. E. T’s V.G. Vaze College of Arts, Science and Commerce; in April 2025.

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Presented a research paper titled “The Impact of A ‘Sustainability Bias’ On the Circular Economy and Bioeconomy of The Fashion and Apparel Sector In India” at the ICSSR (WRC) Sponsored Two-Day National Multidisciplinary Conference on FASHION-I-S-T-A-S on 25th January, 2025; organised by K.E.T’s V.G. Vaze College of Arts, Science and Commerce (Autonomous).

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Successfully completed an Online Short term Training Programme on Academic Leadership, Governance and Strategic Management from 16-23 January, 2025 with an ‘A’ Grade. This program was Conducted by UGC-MMTTC Iswar Saran PG College, Prayagraj-211004

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Presented a research paper titled “Determinants of Revealed Comparative Advantage: Case of Indian Textiles and Chemicals Industry” at the International Multidisciplinary Conference on Setting Benchmark: Research, Innovation, Sustainability, Entrepreneurship (IMCB-RISE-2024); organised by K.E.T’s V.G. Vaze College of Arts, Science and Commerce (Autonomous).

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Presented a research paper at the One Day Multidisciplinary International Conference on “The Journey of India from her Ancientry to Viksit Bharat”, organized by the Department of Economics at K J Somaiya College of Arts and Commerce.

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Presented a research paper at the 4th Annual IIHSG International Conference 2024 on “Human Security & Global Governance”, organised by the Interdisciplinary Institute of Human Security & Governance, Delhi; in collaboration with Department of International Relations, University of Chittagong, Bangladesh & Centre for Field Learning, Ahmedabad held on 30th September and 1st October, 2024.

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Attended ‘Insurance and Re-Insurance Conference 2023’, organised by the Maharashtra Economic Development Council in November, 2023.

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Member of the Board of Studies of the Economics department of K.E. T’s V.G. Vaze College, which is responsible for framing the Economics syllabus from 2019-2022.

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Rapporteur at the National Conference on ‘Transforming Rural India 2030: Strategies for Sustainable Development Goals’ organized by Symbiosis School of Economics and Symbiosis Institute for International Business, Pune in collaboration with NABARD (January 2019).

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Completed a Workshop on Behavioral Economics, by Symbiosis school of Economics (SIU) in 2019.

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Participated in the International Conference on Future of Employment: Challenges and Opportunities in Pune (FECO) (February 2019).

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Conducted Guidance sessions for students of 11th and 12th Std students of St. Gregorios High School for their Board project completion and board exam preparation. (2016 & 2017).

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Conducted a workshop on ‘Time Series Analysis’ for TYBA (eco) students at V.G. Vaze College.

Publications

1.

Title: Assessing Economic Literacy and Policy Awareness across the Social Spectrum.

Published in International Journal of Innovation in Engineering Research and Management.

Volume: 11, Special Issue 04, ISSN: 2348-4918.

2.

Title: “Determinants of Revealed Comparative Advantage: Case of Indian Textiles and Chemicals Industry”, was published in ECONOMIC CHALLENGER: An International Journal [Vol. 27, Issue: 105, ISSN 0975-1351, RNI No. 70869 / 98].

3.

Title: “Is Reunification A Viable Option For North Korea And South Korea? - A Game Theory Analysis” published as a book chapter in Advancing Human Security: Perspectives on Global Governance published by the INTERDISCIPLINARY INSTITUTE OF HUMAN SECURITY AND GOVERNANCE on September 30, 2024. (ISBN No. :978-81-967486-5-4).

Extra-Curricular Activities & Achievements

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Completed A1.1 and A1.2 levels in French, from Alliance Française Mumbai.

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Passionate about experimenting and preparing various world cuisines.

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Accomplished Hindustani Classical Vocalist with 12 years of experience.

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Holder of Black-Belt (DAN 1) in Shotokan Karate, with 11 years of experience.