Rachna works as a research associate for Pratham’s Mother Literacy project in Ajmer. Her research interests are education, development and conflicts, and poverty analysis. Rachna completed her undergraduate degree in B.A (honours) Economics from Hans Raj College, University of Delhi, in 2008. She engaged with both rural as well as urban based organizations in India during her undergraduate degree exploring various social issues; primarily education. She completed her MSc. degree in Development Economics, from the University of Sussex, in September 2009.

Before joining J-PAL, Rachna worked at ‘Prosperity Initiative’ in Hanoi, Vietnam, as a Graduate Intern Economist with their Impact and Performance team, where she was involved in conducting a household baseline survey in Houphanh province in Lao PDR, to analyze the impact of bamboo sector intervention in the region. Rachna's core interest lies in understanding poverty dynamics and various approaches towards poverty alleviation.