Prof Ram Singh, an influential voice in academic and policy-making circles

Prof Ram Singh is one of the youngest members of the Monetary Policy Committee, chaired by RBI Governor Shaktikanta Das. With over 20 years experience of teaching, research and publishing papers on taxes and public finance, law and economics, banking and financial regulations, and the Indian economy, Singh is at present Director of the prestigious Delhi School of Economics.

Singh completed his Ph.D. in Economics from Jawaharlal Nehru University, followed by a Post-Doctorate (Economics) from Harvard University (US). Apart from being at the helm of DSE, he is also Director at the Delhi School of Public Policy & Governance, Chairman of the Agriculture Economics Research Centre, Senior Fellow (Social Sciences) at the Institute of Eminence, Adjunct Professor at the Indian Institute of Science Education and Research (IISER) and also at Kumaon University. He is also a visiting professor at leading institutions such as Brown University, University of Hamburg, and Paris School of Economics, among others.

His select research papers include ‘Do wealthy under-report their Income: Using General Election Filings to Study the Income Wealth Relationship in India’ (2023), ‘Under-reporting of Income by Wealthy Indians (co-author with Soumyajit Ray, 2023)’, ‘Will Competition Reduce Attention Costs (with Francesco Parisi, 2022)’, ‘The Power of Law Through Intertwined Expectations (2022)’, ‘Settlements and Resolutions under the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code (with Hitesh Thakkar, 2021)’, ‘Public-private Partnerships Vs. Traditional Contracts for Highways: Comparison of cost and quality of roads (2019)’, ‘Existence and Efficiency of Equilibria: When care is multidimensional, in Themes in Economic Analysis (2015)’ beside others.

His studies on income reporting in India have been widely cited, reflecting his influence in both academic and policy-making circles. He has been a regular columnist in leading newspapers, including The Hindu.

Trade expert who has written extensively on development cooperation and developmental impact of FDI

Nagesh Kumar, Director, Institute for Studies in Industrial Development

Nagesh Kumar is the Director and Chief Executive of the Institute for Studies in Industrial Development. Prior to taking up this role in May 2021, he served as Director at the United Nations Economic and Social Commission of Asia and the Pacific, holding several senior management roles during 2009-21 including as Chief Economist, Director of Macroeconomic Policy and Financing for Development Division and Social Development Division at the UNESCAP headquarters in Bangkok and as Head of the South and South-West Asia Office located in New Delhi, that he also had the privilege of establishing.

Kumar, a PhD in Economics from the Delhi School of Economics, is a recipient of the Exim Bank’s first International Trade Research Award in 1990, and GDN’s Research Medal awarded by the World Bank and the Japanese Government in Tokyo in 2000.

His web site says he has written extensively on the development cooperation, developmental impact of FDI, industrial and technology development policies, the challenge of new technologies for development, on regional economic co-operation in Asia, and on WTO and development, among other themes, resulting in 18 books and over 120 research papers in international and national peer reviewed journals, among other publications, attracting over 7,400 academic citations at Google Scholar. 

Co-founder of the South Asia Economic Journal (published by Sage) and its co-editor during 2000-2009, Dr Kumar has written popular columns in leading financial dailies of India.