Arvind Subramanian

As Chief Economic Adviser, Dr Subramanian played a key role in publishing the annual Economic Survey of India, which gained significant global attention, with the 2018 survey receiving 20 million views across 190 countries in its first year. Key initiatives during his tenure included the introduction of a nationwide Goods and Services Tax (GST), efforts to address the Twin Balance Sheet problem through a bankruptcy code, the creation of the JAM trinity for financial and digital connectivity, and the promotion of universal basic income-type schemes. His experiences were later published in the book Of Counsel: The Challenges of the Jaitley-Modi Economy.

While at the Peterson Institute for International Economics (PIIE) from 2007 to 2014, Dr Subramanian authored the critically acclaimed book Eclipse: Living in the Shadow of China’s Economic Dominance. He has written extensively on topics such as growth, trade, development, aid, India, Africa, and the World Trade Organization in academic journals. His op-eds and essays have been published in prestigious outlets like The Economist, Financial Times, Foreign Affairs, Washington Post, New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Newsweek, and Business Standard, and he is a regular columnist for Project Syndicate.

Before joining PIIE, Dr Subramanian was the assistant director in the Research Department of the International Monetary Fund. He served at the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) from 1988 to 1992 during the Uruguay Round of trade negotiations and previously taught at Harvard University’s Kennedy School of Government and Johns Hopkins’ School for Advanced International Studies. Dr Subramanian has also held roles at Brown University’s Watson Institute, the Center for Global Development, Ashoka University, and the Harvard Kennedy School and was named one of Foreign Policy’s top 100 global thinkers in 2011.

He obtained his undergraduate degree from St. Stephens College, his MBA from the Indian Institute of Management at Ahmedabad, and his Master of Philosophy and Doctor of Philosophy from the University of Oxford.