Polley Bhunia

Highly driven public policy professional with cross-functional experience in Project Management, and Public Policy Analysis, adept at budget optimization, financial acumen, and stakeholder management in the Education sector. Also proficient in credit underwriting in retail banking.

Work Experience

 Assistant Section Officer | Ministry of Education | New  Delhi   

  • Spearheaded a cross-functional team of 6 for end-to-end implementation of a new financial operations framework to achieve 100% compliance within 3 weeks
  • Drove financial planning and resource allocation, optimizing a budget of ₹420 crores, and implemented cost-saving strategies that resulted in a 12% reduction in operational expenses, freeing up resources for allocation to other initiatives 
  • Oversaw cross-border strategic initiatives and other modalities for  UNESCO India Africa Hackathon and Singapore India Hackathon, involving 600+ students in collaboration with high-level stakeholders such as UNESCO, Ministry of External Affairs, Prime Minister’s Office & Singapore Government 
  • Worked on a transformational initiative in collaboration with FICCI, ASSOCHAM, CII, and Higher Education Institutes for academia-industry collaboration to improve the visibility of India’s Higher institutions in QS Rankings by ~10%
  • Optimized the recruitment process of high-impact leadership roles of statutory and autonomous bodies such as All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE), National Board of Accreditation (NBA), and Innovation Cell and drove efficiency in the selection process to achieve timely appointments.
  • Led a comprehensive analysis and performance review of the higher education schemes such as the Quality Improvement Scheme, and National Employability Enhancement Scheme, identifying key operational inefficiencies and recommended strategic changes to the senior management for scheme revamping
  •  Led the analysis of emerging industry policies such as Green Energy initiatives, identifying skill gaps within the workforce and proposed upskilling and reskilling programs to ensure a smooth transition
  • Played a critical role in drafting high-level financial proposals for the Ministry of Education, collaborating with senior leadership and facilitating cross-functional inputs to secure approval of the Ministry of Finance 

 

   Deputy Manager | State Bank of India | West Bengal

  • Undertook comprehensive financial underwriting through comprehensive credit risk assessment of prospective retail, and business clients, extending credit of ~ Rs 1500 crores 
  • Coordinated and executed a major lead generation campaign, managing a team of 9 members and converting 150+ prospects in the Education Loan Campaign at IIT Kharagpur.
  • Brainstormed and identified strategies to recover written-off loans, achieving a recovery of ~INR 30 lakhs in 3 months
  • Spearheaded a team of 5 associates, partnered with key stakeholders, increasing coverage of digital banking and social security initiative coverage by 25% and thereby helped in scaling business.
  • Recommended a remodeling of repayment inflows in Self-Help Groups, reducing delinquency by 20%
  • Cultivated and strengthened key relationships with external partners, driving strategic partnerships that generated an additional INR 50 lakhs in business.               
Accomplishments
  • Entry Scholarship 2024-25: One of 26/158 students IIM Ahmedabad PGPX 2024-25 batch entry scholarship
  • Secured 4th Position in National Level Consulting Case Competition organized by Skilled Sapiens
  • Consistent Performance Appraisal: Awarded 9+ in yearly appraisal by reporting and reviewing managers
  •  Summer project at New Jersey Institute of Technology, USA: One of 4 / ~150 in my UG stream from Heritage Institute of Technology, who was selected for a summer project on Wireless Networks in New Jersey Institute of Technology, USA 
  • Published a paper: Published a paper on the Functional Comparison of Routing Protocols of MANET under Different Constraints in the International Journal of Advanced Research in Computer Science and Software Engineering
Education

B. Tech, Electronics & Communication, Heritage Institute of Technology

Certificates

 

Co/Extra-curricular
  • Volunteered at Child Rights and You- Carried out outreach programs, and case studies on underprivileged children in and around Kolkata 
  •  Volunteered at Robin Hood Army for food distribution drives and feminine hygiene literacy
  • Position of Responsibility : One of 16-member Profile Committee responsible for profile vetting of the PGPX batch

Quick Look

  • Work Experience: 6.3 Years
  • Previous Roles
    • Assistant Section Officer , Ministry of Education  
    •  Deputy Manager , State Bank of India
  • Function : Finance/Accounting
    Project/Program Management
    Strategy
  • Industry/Sector: BFSI
    Government/PSUs
Work Experience

 Assistant Section Officer | Ministry of Education | New  Delhi   

  • Spearheaded a cross-functional team of 6 for end-to-end implementation of a new financial operations framework to achieve 100% compliance within 3 weeks
  • Drove financial planning and resource allocation, optimizing a budget of ₹420 crores, and implemented cost-saving strategies that resulted in a 12% reduction in operational expenses, freeing up resources for allocation to other initiatives 
  • Oversaw cross-border strategic initiatives and other modalities for  UNESCO India Africa Hackathon and Singapore India Hackathon, involving 600+ students in collaboration with high-level stakeholders such as UNESCO, Ministry of External Affairs, Prime Minister’s Office & Singapore Government 
  • Worked on a transformational initiative in collaboration with FICCI, ASSOCHAM, CII, and Higher Education Institutes for academia-industry collaboration to improve the visibility of India’s Higher institutions in QS Rankings by ~10%
  • Optimized the recruitment process of high-impact leadership roles of statutory and autonomous bodies such as All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE), National Board of Accreditation (NBA), and Innovation Cell and drove efficiency in the selection process to achieve timely appointments.
  • Led a comprehensive analysis and performance review of the higher education schemes such as the Quality Improvement Scheme, and National Employability Enhancement Scheme, identifying key operational inefficiencies and recommended strategic changes to the senior management for scheme revamping
  •  Led the analysis of emerging industry policies such as Green Energy initiatives, identifying skill gaps within the workforce and proposed upskilling and reskilling programs to ensure a smooth transition
  • Played a critical role in drafting high-level financial proposals for the Ministry of Education, collaborating with senior leadership and facilitating cross-functional inputs to secure approval of the Ministry of Finance 

 

   Deputy Manager | State Bank of India | West Bengal

  • Undertook comprehensive financial underwriting through comprehensive credit risk assessment of prospective retail, and business clients, extending credit of ~ Rs 1500 crores 
  • Coordinated and executed a major lead generation campaign, managing a team of 9 members and converting 150+ prospects in the Education Loan Campaign at IIT Kharagpur.
  • Brainstormed and identified strategies to recover written-off loans, achieving a recovery of ~INR 30 lakhs in 3 months
  • Spearheaded a team of 5 associates, partnered with key stakeholders, increasing coverage of digital banking and social security initiative coverage by 25% and thereby helped in scaling business.
  • Recommended a remodeling of repayment inflows in Self-Help Groups, reducing delinquency by 20%
  • Cultivated and strengthened key relationships with external partners, driving strategic partnerships that generated an additional INR 50 lakhs in business.               
Accomplishments
  • Entry Scholarship 2024-25: One of 26/158 students IIM Ahmedabad PGPX 2024-25 batch entry scholarship
  • Secured 4th Position in National Level Consulting Case Competition organized by Skilled Sapiens
  • Consistent Performance Appraisal: Awarded 9+ in yearly appraisal by reporting and reviewing managers
  •  Summer project at New Jersey Institute of Technology, USA: One of 4 / ~150 in my UG stream from Heritage Institute of Technology, who was selected for a summer project on Wireless Networks in New Jersey Institute of Technology, USA 
  • Published a paper: Published a paper on the Functional Comparison of Routing Protocols of MANET under Different Constraints in the International Journal of Advanced Research in Computer Science and Software Engineering
Education

B. Tech, Electronics & Communication, Heritage Institute of Technology

Certificates

 

Co/Extra-curricular
  • Volunteered at Child Rights and You- Carried out outreach programs, and case studies on underprivileged children in and around Kolkata 
  •  Volunteered at Robin Hood Army for food distribution drives and feminine hygiene literacy
  • Position of Responsibility : One of 16-member Profile Committee responsible for profile vetting of the PGPX batch