Prof. K. V. Subramanian is an Executive Director at the International Monetary Fund, the 17th Chief Economic Advisor to the Government of India from 2018 to 2021, and Professor of Finance (on leave) at the Indian School of Business.

As Chief Economic Advisor, Prof. Subramanian conceptualized India’s economic policy during the once-in-a-century COVID pandemic. By correctly identifying Covid as a huge supply-side shock, Prof. Subramanian balanced supply and demand-side measures, transformed fiscal policy to focus on public capital expenditures, and initiated path-breaking reforms to address structural problems. His foresight and vision enabled the Indian economy to emerge with high growth and strong macro fundamentals despite the Ukraine war following the pandemic. His policy ideas drew on the path-breaking Economic Surveys he authored on Ethical Wealth Creation for a prosperous India (2019-20), the Strategic Blueprint for India to become a $5 trillion economy (2018-19), and the post-Covid economy using public capital expenditures in infrastructure and healthcare to further counter-cyclical fiscal policy (2020-21). Acknowledging Dr. Subramanian’s contributions, the Hon’ble Prime Minister Shri. Narendra Modi noted his “academic brilliance, unique perspectives on economic and policy matters, and reformatory zeal.” 

Dr. Subramanian has been conferred the Distinguished Alumnus award by his alma maters IIT-Kanpur and IIM-Calcutta. He completed his PhD at the Booth School of Business, University of Chicago, under the advice of Prof. Luigi Zingales and Prof. Raghuram Rajan, and was awarded the Kauffman Foundation Dissertation Fellowship. His research in banking, law and finance, innovation and economic growth, and corporate governance has been published in the world's leading journals.