Dr. S. Madheswaran is a distinguished Development Economist and Econometrician of India. He is the RBI Chair Professor and Professor at the Centre for Economic Studies and Policy, Institute for Social and Economic Change (ISEC), Bangalore. Previously, he was Director at ISEC, one of the premier institutes under the Indian Council of Social Science Research (ICSSR), and Vice-Chancellor of GRI.
Dr. Madheswaran has also served as an Adviser (equivalent to Secretary Rank) to the Planning, Programme Monitoring, and Statistics Department of the Government of Karnataka. He was pivotal in drafting the Karnataka Evaluation and Monitoring Policy (2010), which laid the foundation for establishing the Karnataka Evaluation Authority. As the first Chief Evaluation Officer and a founding member of the Authority, he was instrumental in shaping its independent evaluation functions. Additionally, he redesigned and coordinated the Economic Survey of Karnataka from 2010 to 2014, co-coordinated the 12th Five-Year Plan Approach Paper and the Human Development Report, and advised on strengthening the state's statistical system. He also chaired the steering committee for developing the Youth Development Index and Youth Status Report for the Ministry of Youth Affairs, Government of India, 2017. Recently, he was nominated as a member to restructure and revitalise the Population Research Centre by the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, Government of India.
Throughout his career, Dr. Madheswaran has provided extensive policy advice on new schemes, programmes, and cabinet notes for the Government of Karnataka. He has actively enhanced the state's statistical system and capacity building across various departments under the KSSSP and 13th Finance Commission grants. His contributions are reflected in official government testimonials. He has served on numerous central and state government committees, completed multiple projects for the Chief Electoral Officer of Karnataka, and contributed to state action planning for assembly and Lok Sabha elections. Dr. Madheswaran has also been a member of the State Planning and Policy Commission, Advisory Committees of ICSSR and MHRD (Southern Region), and the Executive Council of Karnataka.
As a prolific researcher, Dr. Madheswaran has published over 120 research papers in leading international and national journals covering Economics of Education, Labour Economics, Health Economics, Environmental Economics, Public Policy, and Applied Econometrics. He has authored five books with reputed international publishers, including Oxford University Press and Routledge. His research findings have influenced government agencies' mid-course policy adjustments. He serves on several national and international journal review committees and has been Chief Editor and Managing Editor of the Journal of Social and Economic Development (Springer). He is also an advisory committee member of the Indian Journal of Labour Economics (Springer). Renowned as an inspiring teacher, Dr. Madheswaran has taught Applied Econometrics to postgraduate and Ph.D. students for over thirty years. He has coordinated numerous training programmes in Applied Econometrics for Indian Economic Service and Indian Statistical Service officers supported by MOSPI, Government of India. He has also contributed to capacity building for researchers in South Asian through international training programmes conducted by the ILO and SANDEE.
Dr. Madheswaran has been invited to lecture at numerous research institutes and universities in India and abroad. He has served as a resource person, chairperson, and discussant in multiple seminars, workshops, and conferences, demonstrating strong organisational skills through the successful conduct of national and international academic events. He currently serves as Vice President of the Indian Econometric Society and President of the Indian Society of Labour Economics.
His contributions have been recognised with the prestigious Kempe Gowda Award by the Government of Karnataka for excellence in policy making using economics and statistics. He was named an International Fellow by SANDEE in 2007 and is also a Fellow of IZA – International Labour Studies Institute, University of Bonn, Germany. Dr. Madheswaran has been a visiting scholar at Princeton University, USA, and a visiting professor at the International Research Institute of Sociology and Economics of Education (IREDU), University of Bourgogne, Dijon, France. He has participated in academic activities in over 25 countries, including teaching, presenting research, and collaborative projects.