Balakumaran is a GIS Associate with the Food Futures Initiative at CSEI.

He has worked for over four years in the field of Remote Sensing and GIS at the Institute of Remote Sensing, Anna University, Chennai, monitoring and evaluating IWMP watersheds for Tamil Nadu state and also in Village Information System, developing a spatial data model for local-level planning.

He completed his B.E. in Civil Engineering from Velammal Engineering College, Anna University, Chennai, and M.E. Irrigation Water Management from College of Engineering (Guindy Campus), Anna University, Chennai.