She is currently the Commonwealth National Climate Finance Advisor for Fiji and previously worked in Malawi, Lesotho, South Africa, and Eswatini on projects to alleviate poverty and effectively manage ecosystems.
[3] Pullanikkatil completed her bachelor's degree in civil engineering at Mahatma Gandhi University in 1998 and earned a post-graduate diploma in management from the Amrita Schools of Business in 2000.
[6] During a presentation at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars in 2014, Pullanikkatil and Doreen Othero of the Lake Victoria Basin Commission, argued in favor of development efforts which coordinated environmental conservation projects with health and economic initiatives.
As the manager, she worked with the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa, the Commonwealth Foundation, the International Renewable Energy Agency, UNDP, UNEP, the UN Food and Agriculture Organization, and the World Resources Institute to coordinate the various programmes aimed to meet Eswatini's targets.
She stressed the importance of having a plan to address extreme weather which could damage energy infrastructure and of training women and youth in green technology both for assisting in development and reducing unemployment.
[18] The partnership with Fiji and the Commonwealth hub provides funding to enable the local government to implement their strategic plans for sustainable growth and climate initiatives.
[15] Although Pullanikkatil's research focus is typically concerned with environmental sustainability and development, dealing with such topics as the impact of climate change, deforestation, mining, overfishing, and water availability, studies like her co-authored paper "Schistosomiasis Prevalence in Zomba, Southern Malawi", have pointed out links between health and population growth.