Eminent Panel

The Eminent Panel members are some of the most prestigious economists in India: Bibek Debroy, Chairman of the Economic Advisory Council to the Prime Minister of India and member of NITI Aayog; Rathin Roy, Director of National Institute of Public Finance and Policy (NIPFP); Amitabh Mattoo, CEO and Honorary Director of the Australia India Institute; and Alok Ray, Professor of Economics, Indian Institute of Management.

The Eminent Panel members will read all of the research papers, listen to presentations and put questions to the researchers at an academic conference in Jaipur, Rajasthan, in June 2018. Finally, they will rank all of the interventions and establish what would do the most good for every rupee spent. Scroll down to learn more about each member of the Eminent Panel.

Dr. Bibek Debroy

Dr. Bibek Debroy is Chairman of the “Economic Advisory Council to the Prime Minister (EAC-PM)” and Member of the “NITI Aayog”, the think tank of Indian Government.

Dr. Bibek Debroy was educated in Ramakrishna Mission School, Narendrapur; Presidency College, Kolkata; Delhi School of Economics and Trinity College, Cambridge.

He was awarded the ‘Padma Shri’ (the fourth highest civilian honour in India) in 2015. In 2016, He was awarded the Lifetime Achievement Award by US-India Business Summit.

He has worked in following Professional bodies:

• Presidency College, Kolkata (1979-83)
• Gokhale Institute of Politics and Economics, Pune (1983-87);
• Indian Institute of Foreign Trade, Delhi (1987-93);
• as The Director of a Ministry of Finance/UNDP project on legal reforms (1993-98); Department of Economic Affairs (1994-95);
• National Council of Applied Economic Research (1995-96);
• Rajiv Gandhi Institute for Contemporary Studies (1997-2005);
• PHD Chamber of Commerce and Industry (2005-06);
• Centre for Policy Research (2007-2015).

He has authored/edited several books, papers and popular articles and has also been a Consulting/Contributing Editor with several newspapers. 

Twitter: @bibekdebroy

Dr. Rathin Roy

Dr. Rathin Roy is Director and CEO of the National Institute of Public Finance and Policy New Delhi; and Member, Economic Advisory Council to the Prime Minister of India.  With postings in London, New York, Kathmandu, Brasilla and Bangkok, he has worked as an Economic Diplomat and Policy Advisor with UNDP, focusing on emerging economies.  He has taught at the Universities of Manchester and London and served as Economic Adviser with the Thirteenth Finance Commission and as a Member, Seventh Central Pay Commission, Government of India. Dr. Roy is Member, India Advisory Committee, United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) Inquiry into a Sustainable Financial System, Member on the Meta Council on Inclusive Growth, World Economic Forum, Geneva, Member on FRBM Review Committee, Government of India.

Dr. Roy’s policy interests and publications have mainly focused on fiscal and macroeconomic issues pertinent to human development in developing and emerging economies.  Dr. Roy has written extensively on fiscal space for human development, inter-government fiscal issues, fiscal marksmanship, macro-economic conditionality and IMF Article-IV policy analyses.

Dr. Roy holds a Ph.D in Economics from the University of Cambridge, an MA in Economics from the Jawaharlal Nehru University and a BA (Hons) in Economics from St. Stephen’s College, University of Delhi.

Twitter: @EmergingRoy

Prof. Amitabh Mattoo

Professor Amitabh Mattoo is the CEO and Honorary Director of the Australia India Institute at Delhi, and Professor of International Relations at the University of Melbourne. He also serves as advisor to the Chief Minister of Jammu and Kashmir. He is also a Professor of Disarmament Studies in Jawaharlal Nehru University. He has been a member of the National Security Advisory Board and also a member of the National Knowledge Commission to the Prime Minister of India. Professor Mattoo received his doctorate from the University of Oxford and has been a visiting Professor at Stanford University, the University of Notre Dame, the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, and at the Maison des Sciences de l’homme at Paris. Professor Amitabh Mattoo was Vice-Chancellor of the University of Jammu from 2002-2008. Recognizing his contribution to education and public life, the President of India honoured Professor Mattoo with the Padma Shri, one of India's highest civilian awards.

Twitter: @amitabhmatto 

Dr. Alok Ray

Dr. Alok Ray is a former Professor of Economics, Indian Institute of Management Calcutta, India where he taught for more than 30 years.  He obtained his PhD from University of Rochester, USA.  Prof. Ray has also taught at   Calcutta University, Delhi School of Economics, Cornell University (USA), University of Rochester (USA), University of Pittsburg (USA), Portland State University (USA), Queen’s University (Canada) and Monash University (Melbourne, Australia).  

He is the author of a book: Trade, Protection and Economic Policy (Macmillan) and many professional articles in leading international journals. In addition, he writes regular columns on contemporary issues in several English dailies. 

Professor Ray has been a consultant to United Nations, World Bank, Govt. of India and a number of private sector companies. 

He is a recipient of the prestigious V.K.R.V. Rao Award in Economics for his research contributions and the “Best Teacher of Economics” Award by Bengal Economic Association.