Puru is an Associate Professor at the Department of Computer Science and Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology Bombay, Mumbai. He is also an associate faculty member at the Center for Technology Alternatives for Rural Areas (CTARA), IIT Bombay and principal investigator of the Technology and Development Solutions Cell (TDSC), IIT Bombay. His primary work interests are in the areas of drinking water provisioning and watershed interventions, and enabling formal mechanisms for working on development-related problems in academic programs.