M Govinda Rao

M. Govinda Rao is the Director of National Institute of Public Finance and Policy. He is also a Member of Economic Advisory Council to the Prime Minister. His past positions include Director, Institute for Social and Economic Change, Bangalore (1998-2002) and Fellow, Research School of Pacific and Asian Studies, Australian National University, Canberra, Australia (1995-98). Besides being a Member of the Economic Advisory Council to the Prime Minister, he has served on several advisory panels...See more

M. Govinda Rao is the Director of National Institute of Public Finance and Policy. He is also a Member of Economic Advisory Council to the Prime Minister. His past positions include Director, Institute for Social and Economic Change, Bangalore (1998-2002) and Fellow, Research School of Pacific and Asian Studies, Australian National University, Canberra, Australia (1995-98). Besides being a Member of the Economic Advisory Council to the Prime Minister, he has served on several advisory panels such as Member, International Advisory Panel on Governance; Member, Expert Committee on Multilevel Planning, Planning Commission, Government of India; Chairman, Expert Group on Taxation of Services (2000-01); Chairman, Technical Experts Committee on VAT; and Member, Consultative Group of Interstate Council, Government of India. He is also a Member of the Taxation Policy Group in the Initiative for Policy Dialogue led by Professor Joseph Stiglitz of Columbia University. Dr Rao's research interests include public finance and fiscal policy, fiscal federalism, and state and local finance. He has been a consultant to the World Bank, International Monetary Fund, Asian Development Bank, and the UNDP on issues relating to tax policy and reforms, public expenditure management and fiscal decentralization in Cambodia, China, Laos, Pakistan, and Vietnam. His recent books include Political Economy of Federalism in India (2005); Sustainable Fiscal Policy for India: An International Perspective (edited with Peter Heller, 2006); and Development, Poverty and Fiscal Policy (2005). See less