Conversations with a former Civil Servant: Reflections on Policy Regulation and Governance

Dr K P Krishnan

Dr K P Krishnan was educated in Economics at St. Stephens College and Law at the Campus Law Centre University of Delhi. He joined IIM Bangalore in 1999 and was awarded FPM (PhD) in Economics in 2003. He served in the Indian Administrative Service (IAS) for 37 years and superannuated in 2019. In his IAS career he has served in various positions in the Government of Karnataka, Government of India and at the World Bank. Besides field positions like District Collector Mangalore, he served in Government of Karnataka departments dealing with agriculture, co-operatives and marketing, urban development and infrastructure, commercial taxes and finance. Working in the Government of India, he has served in key roles as Secretary, Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship; Special/Additional Secretary, Department of Land Resources, Ministry of Rural Development (2014-2017) and many others. In these positions he served on the boards of corporations, banks as well as boards of statutory regulatory authorities. 

In parallel with his government career, Dr Krishnan has been a strong researcher and academic. Besides being visiting faculty at IIM Bangalore, ISB and Ashoka University, he held the Bok Visiting Professorship of Regulation at University of Pennsylvania Law School in 2012-13. Additionally, he has served as IEPF Chair Professor of Economics at the National Council of Applied Economic Research and as Honorary Research Professor at the Centre for Policy Research. At present, he is a Distinguished Fellow at the Isaac Centre for Public Policy Ashoka University. Moreover, he is also an independent Director on the Boards of Shriram Capital Private Limited, Dr. Reddy’s Laboratories Limited, Tata Consumer Product Limited and a few not-for-profit institutions working in the areas of education and public health.

Pankaj Chandra

Professor Pankaj Chandra is the Vice Chancellor & Chairman, Board of Management, Ahmedabad University. Professor Chandra has completed his BTech from Banaras Hindu University and his PhD from The Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania. He was the Director of the Indian Institute of Management, Bangalore and a Professor of Operations and Technology Management at IIMB. He has taught at various institutions such as McGill University in Montreal, University of Geneva, The Wharton School, Cornell University and IIM Ahmedabad . His research and teaching interests include manufacturing management, supply chain coordination, building technological capabilities, higher education policy, and hi-tech entrepreneurship. Additionally, he has published extensively in international refereed journals and has served on the editorial boards of several international journals. His last book, “Building Universities that Matter: Where are Indian Institutions Going Wrong?” studies issues of governance, change and institution building in Indian public universities. Lastly, he has been conducting a national survey on Competitiveness of Indian Manufacturing since the last 20 years.