Dr. M. Govinda Rao is the Director, National Institute of Public Finance and Policy, New Delhi, India. He is also a Member, 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, Australia (1995-98).
Dr Govinda Rao has a number of additional advisory roles. These include, Member, International Advisory Panel on Governance, UNDP Regional Office, Chairman. Chairman, Expert Group on Taxation of Services (2000-01); Chairman, Technical Experts Committee on VAT. He is also a Member of the Taxation Policy Group in the Initiative for Policy Dialogue (led by Prof. Joseph Stiglitz).
Dr Rao's research interests include public finance and fiscal policy, fiscal federalism and state and local finance. He has published technical articles extensively in a number of reputed journals besides 12 books and monographs on various aspects of Public Finance. His recent books include, Political Economy of Federalism in India, Oxford University Press, 2005, Sustainable Fiscal Policy for India: An International Perspective (edited with Peter Heller), Oxford University Press, (2005) and Poverty, Development and Fiscal Policy, Oxford University Press, 2002 (Paperback, 2004).