Taha Barwahwala is a Kabir Banerjee Predoctoral Fellow in the Department of Economics at Columbia University, and previously a Senior Data Research Associate at J-PAL South Asia. At J-PAL, he has worked on exploring the effectiveness of machine learning methods applied to administrative data with the ‘Innovations in Data and Experiments for Action’ (IDEA) initiative. His area of focus is taxation capacity under India’s Goods and Services Tax (GST) ecosystem. Through data-driven research, Taha wants to identify and advocate for policy interventions that boost productivity in urban settings through better service provision, increased state capacity, and efficient governance. Prior to joining J-PAL in 2020, Taha was a data engineer at a private sector bank. Taha is a Bachelor of Technology graduate in Engineering Physics with a minor in Mathematics from the Indian Institute of Technology, Guwahati.