5th GW India Conference on India’s Economic Development and U.S.-India Economic Relations

Save the Date - April 24, 2025

The Institute for International Economic Policy is proud to host the 5th GW India Conference on India’s Economic Development and U.S.-India Economic Relations which will take place on Thursday, April 24th, 2025 at the Elliott School of International Affairs. India has come a long way since its independence in 1947; it has reduced poverty hugely, became the world’s fifth largest economy, successfully chaired the G20 in 2023, and became the most populous country leaving India a demographic dividend that must be realized. However, India still faces numerous challenges going forward. Within this context, the Institute for International Economic Policy (IIEP) will host its fifth GW India Conference on India’s Economic Development and U.S.-India Economic Relations. This year’s conference will focus on “Making India an Advanced Economy by 2047: Strengthening Institutions Addressing Inequities”, and will bring together prominent economists, policymakers, and experts to discuss India's strategic pathways and challenges toward becoming an advanced economy. The conference will feature six sessions and over 20 distinguished speakers from around the world. These speakers will address topics ranging from law and economics to gender, from trade challenges to rising inequality, and from state-level reforms to India's development. 

This conference is co-sponsored by the Institute for International Economic Policy, the GW Department of Economics, the GW Center for International Business Education and Research, the Sigur Center for Asian Studies, the IIEP Local Sustainable Governance Policy Lab, the GW Humanities Facilitating Fund, and the GW University Seminar Series on Domestic and International Perspectives on Climate Change and Water Management. 

Register Here

Conference Agenda:

8:30-9:00 a.m. – Breakfast and Registration

9:00-9:05 a.m. – Welcome Remarks 

• Prof. Remi Jedwab, Professor of International Affairs and Economics, Director, Institute for International Economic Policy, GWU

9:05 - 10:15 a.m. – Opening Keynote Session

• Chair: Alyssa Ayres, Dean, Elliott School of International Affairs
• Keynote Address: H.E. Vinay Kwatra, Ambassador of India to the United States of America (invited)
• Thematic Keynote: Ramakrishnan Mukundan, Managing Director & CEO of Tata Chemicals Limited

10:15 - 11:15 a.m. Session 1: “Law and Economics”

• Chair: Amitabha (Amit) Muhkerjee, former World Bank and Indian Administrative Service (IAS)
• Speaker: Prof. Vikramaditya Khanna, William W. Cook Professor of Law, Michigan University
• Discussant: Prof. Shruti Rajagopalan, Senior Research Fellow, Mercatus Center, George Mason University

11:15 - 11:30 a.m. – Coffee break

11:30 a.m. - 12:30 p.m. – Session 2: “Trade Challenges in a Fractured Global Trading System”

• Chair: Cecilia Malmström, Nonresident Senior Fellow, Peterson Institute for International Economics, and former European Commissioner for Trade
• Speaker: Prof. Sanjay Kathuria, Visiting Senior Fellow, Center for Social and Economic Progress (New Delhi), co-founder of the Trade Sentinel, and Global Fellow at the Wilson Center
• Discussant: Arvind Subramanian, Senior Fellow, Peterson Institute for International Economics, and 16th Chief Economic Advisor, Government of India

12:30 - 1:45 p.m. – Lunch

1:45 p.m. - 2:45 p.m. – Session 3: “Women, Jobs, and Empowerment”

• Chair: Prof. James Foster, Oliver T. Carr Professor of International Affairs and Professor of Economics, IIEP-GWU
• Speaker: Franziska Ohnsorge, Chief Economist, South Asia Region, The World Bank
• Speaker: Ganesh Natarajan, Board Chair, GTT Data Solutions Ltd, Honeywell Automation India, 5F World, Lighthouse Communities Foundation
• Speaker: Uma Ganesh, Founder, Global Talent Track and GTT Foundation

2:45 - 3:45 p.m. – Session 4: “Rising Inequality and Business Concentration”

• Chair: Kalpana Kochhar, Director of Development Policy and Finance, Gates Foundation
• Speaker: Prof. Simon Commander, Managing Partner of Altura Partners, Visiting Professor of Economics at IE Business School in Madrid
• Discussant: Prof. Viral Acharya, C.V. Starr Professor of Economics, NYU Stern School, and former Deputy Governor of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI)

3:45 - 4:00 p.m. – Coffee Break

4:00-5:00 p.m. – Session 5: “State Level Reforms and India’s Development”

• Chair: Prof. Indira Iyer, Research Professor of International Affairs, IIEP, GWU
• Speaker: Prof. Karthik Muralidharan, Tata Chancellor's Professor of Economics, University of California San Diego
• Discussant: Shekhar Shah, Non-Resident Fellow, Center for Global Development; and former Director-General, National Council of Applied Economic Research (NCAER), India

5:00-6:00 pm – Closing Session: “Indian Americans”

• Chair: Ajay Chhibber, Distinguished Visiting Scholar, IIEP, former Assistant Secretary General, UN
• Speaker: Meena Ahamed on her new book “Indian Genius: The Meteoric Rise of American Indians”, Harper-Collins 2024.
• Discussant: Prof. Devesh Kapur, Starr Foundation Professor of Asian Studies, JHU-SAIS

6:00-7:00 pm – Reception