About Us

Sanjeev Sanyal is currently a Member of Prime Minister Modi's Economic Advisory Council (EAC-PM). He was the Principal Economic Adviser to the Finance Minister for five years till February 2022. He has represented India on many international forums including as Co-Chair of the G20's Framework Working Group.

During his time in government, he has been responsible for several key reforms and was part of the core team that managed the Indian economy during the Covid-19 pandemic. He was also one of the key architects of the G20's Global Action Plan that kept the world economy functioning during the pandemic years.

Prior to joining the government, he had spent over two decades in financial markets and was a Global Strategist and Managing Director at Deutsche Bank.
An alumni of Shri Ram College of Commerce, Delhi, Mr. Sanyal later attended Oxford University as a Rhodes Scholar. He was awarded the Eisenhower Fellowship in 2007 for his work on urban dynamics. In 2010 he was named as Young Global Leader by the World Economic Forum in Davos.

He has been a visiting professor/fellow of numerous institutions such as Oxford University, Royal Geographical Society, Institute of Policy Studies (Singapore), and Jawaharlal Nehru University (Delhi). He also chairs the board of advisors of the Delhi School of Public Policy and Governance (Delhi University).

Mr. Sanyal is the author of a number of best-selling books including Revolutionaries, Land of the Seven Rivers, The Ocean of Churn, India in the Age of Ideas, The Incredible History of the Indian Ocean, and the Indian Renaissance. He has also published around two hundred and fifty articles and columns in leading national and international publications. His writings have received many awards including the Kalinga Book Award 2023, the International Indian Achievers' Award (for Literature) 2013, the Art Karat Award 2018, and so on.

Prof. Umakant Dash is a distinguished academician and visionary administrator, currently serving as the Vice Chancellor of Gokhale Institute of Politics and Economics. Prior to joining GIPE, he was Director and RBI Chair Professor at the Institute of Rural Management Anand (IRMA), India's premier institution committed to professionalizing organizations serving rural communities. Prior to joining IRMA, he was Professor and Head of the Department of Humanities and Social Sciences at IIT Madras, and served as an Adjunct Professor at IIM Tiruchirappalli. With over three decades of experience in management education, research, and institution building, Prof. Dash has held academic and leadership roles at reputed institutions such as IIT Madras, BITS Pilani, Utara University of Malaysia, and Tulane University, USA. He holds a Ph.D. in Applied Economics from IIT Kanpur and a Diploma in Health Systems Management from Tulane University, and is internationally recognized for his scholarship in health economics, public policy, and development studies.

His research, supported by global organizations including DFID, the Rockefeller Foundation, WHO, and Access Health International, addresses critical issues of equity, efficiency, and risk protection in health systems. He has led numerous collaborative projects with academic and policy institutions across South Africa, Thailand, Bangladesh, Ethiopia, Nigeria, Kenya, and the UK. His academic output includes over 90 publications in peer-reviewed international journals such as The Lancet, BMC Public Health, International Journal for Equity in Health, and Journal of Health Management. He has also supervised 17 doctoral scholars in management and public policy, many of whom now hold prominent academic and research positions in India and abroad.

Prof. Dash has designed and delivered a wide range of executive training programs for senior and mid-level professionals in government, academia, and the development sector. A regular speaker at international and national forums, he has also contributed extensively to public policy as a member of expert committees for the Ministries of Cooperation, Panchayati Raj, and Health and Family Welfare, Government of India; the SPC Working Group, Government of Tamil Nadu; and the National Technical Advisory Group on Immunization (NTAGI).

He currently serves on the governing and academic boards of several institutions, including IIT Indore, NIRD&PR Hyderabad, LBSIM New Delhi, NIBM Pune, and NIRT Chennai.

In recognition of his outstanding contributions to academia, rural development, and public service, Prof. Dash has been conferred the AIMA–Kewal Nohria Award for Academic Leadership in Management Education (2024), recognized among India's Greatest Leaders 2024–25 by AsiaOne Magazine, and awarded the LVS Public Policy 2025 – Lifetime Achievement Award by the Confederation of NGOs for Rural India (CNRI) and the World Cooperation Economic Forum (WCopEF) for his visionary leadership and impactful contributions to rural management and policy-making.