Dr Rajiv Kumar Secretary General, FICCI
Rajiv Kumar, a well known economist, and the author of several books, took over as Secretary General of the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI) in May 2011. He joined FICCI as Director General in October 2010.
Prior to FICCI, he was Director & Chief Executive of the Indian Council for Research on International Economic Relations (ICRIER), one of India’s leading independent economic policy think tanks. He is a non-executive member of the Central Board of Directors of the State Bank of India; a member of the Ministry of Finance, G-20 Advisory Group; Board Member of India Brand Equity Foundation and of the United States-India the Educational Foundation (USIEF).
He was a member of the National Security Advisory Board for 2006-2008.
From 1987-1989, Dr Kumar taught at the Indian Institute of Foreign Trade. Subsequently, he worked for the Government of India from 1989 to 1995, first in the Bureau of Industrial Costs and Prices, Ministry of Industry and then as Economic Adviser in the Department of Economic Affairs, Ministry of Finance. In 1995, Dr. Kumar joined the Asian Development Bank in Manila and served a ten year term both in research and operational departments.
In 2004, he returned to India to join the Confederation of Indian Industries, New Delhi as its Chief Economist. He has a D.Phil. in Economics from Oxford University and a Ph.D from Lucknow University. His latest book, Many Futures of India, published in April 2011 is a compilation of his columns in some of India’s leading dailies. His views on matters relating to the economy are widely sought.