Dean – IFMR GSB

Lakshmi Kumar

Professor, Economics

Prof Lakshmi Kumar has been the Dean of IFMR Graduate School of Business since March 2022, having been in the institution since January 2000.  She has held several administrative positions including MBA Chair, PhD Chair, EMBA Chair and Alumni Chair at the institution before assuming the office of Dean. She handles Macroeconomics, Managerial Economics, International Business, Microfinance and Entrepreneurship both at the business school as well as in management development programs from corporates and the government.

She is passionate about understanding the financial behaviour of low-income households, rural livelihoods and analysis of Government-provided basic services. Prof Lakshmi has also participated in various field-based studies in Tamil Nadu, including projects sponsored by Harvard University, DFID UK, NSE India, University of California, Irvine and NABARD, India.

Her educational background includes a Bachelor’s degree in Mathematics (1984), a Master’s in Econometrics (1987) from the University of Madras and PhD from IIT Madras in 2008.

Assistant Professor, Economics

Sumit Mishra

I’m an Assistant Professor of Economics at the Institute for Financial Management and Research, Sri City.

I received my PhD in Development Studies, and M.Sc. in Economics from Indira Gandhi Institute of Development Research. My thesis looked into the issue of regional imbalances in Maharashtra. I show that the constitutional mandate in form of the Article 371(2) did not ameliorate regional differences in the state.

My current research examines three aspects of India’s economic development:

The relationship between caste diversity and access to public goods in villages.

The association between segregation and public goods in cities.

The movement from farm to non-farm occupations (structural transformation).

Area Chair – Economics

Jyoti Prasad Mukhopadhyay

Associate Professor, Economics

Jyoti Prasad Mukhopadhyay holds a Master’s degree in Economics from the Delhi School of Economics (University of Delhi) and a PhD in Economics from IFMR Graduate School of Business (formerly IFMR) and University of Madras. Prior to his PhD, Jyoti worked with Centre for Micro Finance (CMF) at IFMR as a Research Associate and also with The World Bank as a Short-term Consultant (STC) on an impact evaluation study in Chhattisgarh. Jyoti has participated and presented research papers in various academic conferences in India and abroad.

Jyoti has published research papers in peer reviewed journals such as Development Policy Review, Economic and Political Weekly, Journal of Developing Areas, Studies in Microeconomics, etc.

Jyoti is also a co-PI on an impact evaluation study titled “Randomized Evaluation of the Government Implemented Targeting Hard Core Poor Program in Bihar, India” along with Abhijit Banerjee (MIT), Esther Duflo (MIT), and Shagun Sabarwal (JPAL SA). His broad research areas include development economics, applied econometrics and behavioral economics.

Associate Professor, Economics & Chairperson – MBA Programme

Madhuri Saripalle

Madhuri Saripalle is an Professor of Economics at IFMR Graduate School of Business, KREA University. She received her doctorate in agriculture economics from the University of Connecticut, U.S.A. She specializes in industrial organization and economic development and her research analyses contemporary issues related to profitability, employment and trade in industry and agri-business sectors. She teaches post graduate courses on micro economics, empirical industrial organization and game theory. She has also worked on research projects funded by international organizations such as Ford Foundation and ILO, related to sustainable agriculture practices, climate friendly Industrialization and labor-intensive industrialization in India. She has published in national and international journals including World Development Perspectives, International Journal of Logistics, Economics and Globalization, IIMB Review and Economic and Political Weekly; as well as book chapters in well recognized publishers such as Springer, Cambridge university Press and Routledge. Her recent publications include: “Determinants of Employment in the Indian Automobile Industry (2021)”, Mango value chains in India (2020), Determinants of Profitability in the Indian Logistics Industry (2018), Jasmine Cultivation in Tamil Nadu: Market Structure and Pricing.