Mr. Montek S. Ahluwalia is currently a Distinguished Visiting Professor at the Stern School of Management, NYU. He served as the Deputy Chairman of the Planning Commission of the Government of India from 2004 to 2014. A key figure in India’s economic reforms from the early 1980s onwards, he has held several important positions including Special Secretary to the Indian Prime Minister (1988–90); Commerce Secretary (1990–91); Secretary, Department of Economic Affairs, Ministry of Finance (1991–93); and Finance Secretary, Ministry of Finance (1993–98). He was also Member of the Planning Commission, Government of India and Member of the Economic Advisory Council to the Prime Minister (1998–2001). From 2001 to 2004, Mr. Ahluwalia worked as Director of the Independent Evaluation Office, International Monetary Fund. Mr. Ahluwalia holds a B.A. (Hons.) Economics degree from Delhi University; M.A. and M. Phil. from Oxford University.

His published works include “Reforming the Global Financial Architecture”, Economic Paper No. 41, Commonwealth Secretariat, London, 2000; “State Level Performance Under Economic Reforms in India”, in Economic Policy Reforms and the Indian Economy, edited by Anne O. Krueger (University of Chicago Press, 2002); “Economic Reforms in India since 1991”; “Has Gradualism Worked?”, Journal of Economic Perspectives, August 2002; “Infrastructure Development in India’s Reforms”, in India Economic Reforms and Development: Essays for Manmohan Singh, edited by Isher Judge Ahluwalia, and IMD Little (OUP, New Delhi, 1998); and “India’s Economic Reforms: An Appraisal”, in India in the Era of Economic Reforms, edited by Jeffery Sachs and Nirupam Bajpai (Oxford, 1999).