Shashwat Alok is an Associate Professor of Finance at the Indian School of Business (ISB). He joined ISB in 2013 after receiving his PhD in Finance from the Olin Business School, Washington University in St. Louis. He is currently the Research Director at the Digital Identity Research Initiative.

His primary research interests are in the areas of corporate finance. In particular, his research focuses on understanding the impact of the law, government policy, and institutions on firms and individual behaviour, with a greater focus on emerging markets. His recent work seeks to examine the role of alternative data and fintech in expanding financial inclusion, and the impact of climate change on firms and capital allocation.

Professor Alok is the recipient of multiple prestigious grants, and his work has been accepted at leading international conferences such as those hosted by the American Finance Association, the Asian Bureau of Finance and Economic Research, the European Finance Association, and the Financial Intermediation Research Society. His research has been published or accepted in top academic journals such as the Review of Financial Studies, Management Science, and the Journal of Financial and Quantitative Analysis. Prof Alok's research has been cited by the Indian Economic Survey (2018-2019) and the Reserve Bank of India's Household Finance Committee Report (2017). His research has also featured in major Indian media outlets, including the Economic Times and the Times of India.

Before joining the PhD programme, he graduated among the top of his class in Computer Science and Engineering from the Manipal University. He was the recipient of the Hubert C. Moog Scholar for academic excellence while pursuing his PhD at the Washington University in St Louis.

Prof. Krishnamurthy V. Subramanian is a Professor of Finance at the Indian School of Business. He served as the 17th Chief Economic Adviser to the Government of India (2018–2021) and as Executive Director at the International Monetary Fund, representing India and South Asia. His work is distinguished by the application of first-principles economic reasoning to high-stakes policy challenges in emerging economies.

In 2026, Prof. Subramanian was selected as the first Indian economist in the 85-year history of the University of Chicago Alumni Award for Professional Achievement, a tradition that has previously honoured at least 14 Nobel laureates, including Paul Samuelson, Herbert Simon, Gary Becker, Myron Scholes, and Claudia Goldin, alongside global thinkers such as James Watson (co-discoverer of DNA), astronomer Carl Sagan, and marketing pioneer Philip Kotler. He belongs to an elite group of individuals to have received Distinguished Alumnus honours from all three of his alma maters: IIT Kanpur, IIM Calcutta, and the University of Chicago.

In its official citation, the University of Chicago described Prof. Subramanian's three Economic Surveys of India as "landmark" documents that provided "the intellectual foundation for India's approach to self-reliance, anchored in competitive markets, policy autonomy, and inclusive growth." The citation further noted that his early public articulation of a V-shaped economic recovery "helped anchor confidence in India's economic resilience at a time of deep global uncertainty.”

As India's Chief Economic Adviser during the once-in-a-century COVID-19 crisis, Prof. Subramanian worked with senior political leadership to help design the macro-financial and public-health architecture of India's response and to conceptualise Atmanirbhar Bharat (Self reliant India). He was among the few policymakers among G-20 economies to correctly diagnose the crisis as a supply-side disruption and articulated a balanced policy framework that delivered non-inflationary growth while preserving macroeconomic stability. His thematic Economic Surveys, a departure from past practice, introduced new frameworks emphasising ethical wealth creation, supply-side reform, and public-investment-led growth, and continue to guide India's economic approach. The scale of these decisions, affecting 1.4 billion people, underscored the real-world stakes of economic reasoning.

At the International Monetary Fund, Prof. Subramanian engaged directly with sovereign leadership during major balance-of-payments crises in South Asia, contributing to the design, negotiation, and oversight of stabilisation programmes that balanced fiscal credibility, social protection, and climate resilience. Across engagements with multilateral institutions including the United Nations, he has advanced data-driven reforms in global economic governance aimed at fairness, transparency, and institutional credibility.

Prof. Subramanian's scholarly research in financial economics has appeared in the world's leading journals. He is the author of India@100, a national bestseller presenting an evidence based framework for India's long-term growth trajectory toward its centenary in 2047, and Money: A Zero-Sum Game, which develops a first-principles, balance-sheet-based framework for understanding money creation and monetary transmission. Known for his ability to translate complex economic ideas into accessible language while remaining grounded in scholarly rigour, he has been described in the media as "the common man's economist," a reflection of his ability to combine scholarly rigour with public clarity.

His work reflects a central conviction: that rigorous economic reasoning, when combined with the courage to act under uncertainty, can shape outcomes for hundreds of millions of people.

Prof. Subramanian holds an MBA and a PhD from the University of Chicago Booth School of Business, an MBA from IIM Calcutta, and a B.Tech from IIT Kanpur.