Prime Minister Narendra Modi has reconstituted NITI (National Institution of Transforming India) with the appointment of noted economist Ashok Lahiri as Vice-Chairman and four new full-time members. Former Cabinet Secretary Rajiv Gauba has been retained as a full-time member.

Prime Minister is ex officio chairman of NITI.

Lahiri will replace Suman Berry and his appointment will be valid from the date of assumption of charge and until further orders. There is no fixed term for the Vice-Chairman. As on date Lahiri is an outgoing MLA in the West Bengal assembly. Elected on a BJP ticket, he represents Balurghat (Dakshin Dinajpur) assembly constituency.

Lahiri, a well-known economist, served as member of the 15th Finance Commission. Earlier, he worked as as 12th Chief Economic Adviser to the Government of India, reader at the Delhi School of Economics (DSE), Chairman of Bandhan Bank, Executive Director of the Asian Development Bank, and Director of the National Institute of Public Finance and Policy (NIPFP). He has had stints with the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF), as a Consultant and Senior Economist, respectively.

Apart from Lahiri, the four new members include K V Raju, Gobardhan Das, Abhay Karandikar and M Srinivas. Raju is currently part-time Member of the Economic Advisory Council to the Prime Minister. Also, he is working as the Economic Advisor to the UP government. Earlier, he worked as Economic Advisor to the Karnataka Chief Minister. He was earlier consultant to the World Bank, Asian Development Bank and SIDA.

Das is the Director of the Indian Institute of Science Education and Research Bhopal (IISER Bhopal). Prior to assuming this position, he   worked as a Professor and Chair of the Special Centre for Molecular Medicine at Jawaharlal Nehru University. He also holds honorary positions as Adjunct Professor, Houston Methodist Research Institute, Houston, USA, and Adjunct Professor, Shoochow University, Suzhou, China. He has previously served as visiting Professor in many renowned universities across the world.

Karandikar is currently Secretary, Department of Science & Technology (DST). Before joining DST in October 2023, he served as the Director, IIT. He also served as Dean (Faculty Affairs) and Head of the Electrical Engineering Department at IIT Bombay. He spearheaded a national effort in setting up the Telecom Standards Development Society of India (TSDSI), India‘s standards body for telecom, with the participation of all stakeholders. Prof Karandikar was the founding member and former Chairman of TSDSI. He was also Member (Part-Time) of the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI).

Srinivas is the Director of AIIMS. He joined AIIMS in 1994 and ascended the academic ladder to become Professor of Paediatric Surgery in 2011. He has authored around 200 research papers and has trained thousands of undergraduate and postgraduate medical students. His administrative experience includes development of new medical colleges under the ESI Corporation and has contributed to initiation of more than 10 new medical colleges and starting post graduate and super speciality courses in these institutes. He is a distinguished member of 15 professional organisations.

Published on April 25, 2026