Isher Judge Ahluwalia

Isher Judge Ahluwalia is an economist who has spent a lifetime in research related to economic policymaking in India. After starting her career at the IMF, Dr Ahluwalia returned to India where she authored two books—Industrial Growth in India: Stagnation since the Mid-Sixties and Productivity and Growth in Indian Manufacturing. She was a professor at the Centre for Policy Research, and then director, and later chairperson, of ICRIER. Over the last decade and a half, she has built ICRIER into a leading global think tank. Dr Ahluwalia has served as Chair of the Board of the International Food Policy Research Institute and the Chair of the High-Powered Committee on Urban Infrastructure Services set up by the Government of India in 2008. She has written extensively in The Indian Express on several challenges relating to sustainable urbanization with special focus on delivery of clean drinking water and solid waste management. She is a graduate of Presidency College and Delhi School of Economics, and received her PhD from Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Dr Ahluwalia is a recipient of the Padma Bhushan.