Brief Profile

Isher Judge Ahluwalia is Chairperson, Board of Governors, the Indian Council for Research on International Economic Relations (ICRIER), where she served as Director and Chief Executive from 1997 to 2001. Dr Ahluwalia was awarded Padma Bhushan by the President of India in the year 2009 for her services in the field of education and literature. She is also Member, National Manufacturing Competitiveness Council, Government of India.

Dr. Ahluwalia is on the boards of numerous research institutes in India (e.g., the National Council of Applied Economic Research, New Delhi, and the Madras School of Economics, Chennai) and a number of international research organizations (e.g., the Global Development Network, New Delhi; Research Advisory Board, Peterson Institute of International Economics, Washington, D.C; and Scientific Council, BRUEGEL, Brussels.  She was Chairperson of the Board of Trustees of the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI), Washington, D.C. from 2003 to 2006.

Dr Ahluwalia was appointed Chairperson of the High Powered Expert Committee on Urban Infrastructure by the Ministry of Urban Development, Government of India in May 2008. The Committee is to submit its report to the Government of India by end- 2009. At the request of the Government of Punjab and the Government of India, Dr Ahluwalia led a team of national consultants from UNIDO to prepare and present a report “Punjab Industrial Review” to the Chief Minister, Punjab in August 2008. Earlier, from February 2005 to 2007, she was Vice-Chairperson, Punjab State Planning Board.

Dr. Ahluwalia received her B.A. from Presidency College, Calcutta University, M.A. from the Delhi School of Economics, and Ph.D. from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), all in economics. Her research has focused on industrial development, macro-economic reforms, and issues in social sector development in India.  She is an author/co-author/editor of several books including India’s Economic Reforms and Development: Essays for Manmohan Singh (OUP, 1998), which she co-edited with Prof. I.M.D Little. Her book, Industrial Growth in India: Stagnation since the Mid-Sixties (OUP, 1985) received the Batheja Memorial Award for the best book on the Indian economy in 1987. Her blend of quantitative research and policy analysis in her book, Productivity and Growth in Indian Manufacturing (OUP, 1991) focused attention of the policy makers in India on the long standing problem of poor productivity performance in the manufacturing sector of India. Dr. Ahluwalia has published many articles in professional journals and also engaged actively in policy debate in India through writing in newspapers and magazines and participating in discussions in the electronic media.

Dr Ahluwalia was a Member of the Eminent Persons Group (EPG) of the Asian Development Bank under the Chairmanship of Dr Supachai Panitchpakdi, Secretary-General of the UN Conference on Trade and Development. The EPG submitted its report, “Towards a New Asian Development Bank in a New Asia” in May 2008. She was a member of the Commission on Macro-Economics and Health set up by the WHO in January 2000 under the chairmanship of Prof. Jeffrey Sachs. The CMH submitted its report to the Director General, WHO in September 2002. She is currently Member, Advisory Group on Institutional and Human Resources Management, the Asian Development Bank.