When the National Institute of Public Finance and Policy (NIPFP)
first opened its doors in
1976, it was driven by a small, dedicated group of economists and researchers. Under the
founding Director Dr. R. J. Chelliah, the Institute's earliest cohort included V.D. Lall, P.
Nagarajan, Anupam Gupta, M.C. Purohit, Shyam Nath, P.B. Nayak, M. Govinda Rao, K.K. Arti,
J.V.M. Sarma, Pawan Kumar Aggarwal, Ranjana Ghoshal, Sushama Shende, S. Gopalakrishnan, and
Sumita Sengupta — a founding cohort that worked dedicatedly to shape the Institute's early
intellectual identity.
Over five decades, as India's economy transformed, so too did the scope and scale of NIPFP.
That original group of scholars has grown into a comprehensive institution, housing
professors, fellows, and specialised consultants, supported by a dedicated administrative,
technical, and support staff. This Golden Jubilee celebrates not only the research that has
defined NIPFP's contribution to public finance, but the people — across all these years —
who have sustained it.