Dr. Mukul G. Asher is an Adjunct Professor at the Amrita Center for Economics & Governance (ACEG), Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham.
Dr. Mukul G. Asher obtained Ph. D. in Economics from Washington State University in 1972. He was a faculty member with the Department of Economics, and later with the Lee Kuan Yew school of Public Policy at the National University of Singapore for over four decades, stepping down in June 2018. He is a Senior Fellow for Executive Education at the Lee Kuan Yew School of Government, National University in Singapore.
He is advisor to MYINDMAKERS, a public affairs website based in the United States. His research focuses on public financial management, Including the public private partnerships (PPPs); social security reforms, particularly pensions and health care, in Asia, and application of economic reasoning to public policies. He has published extensively in national and international journals; and has authored or edited more than fifteen books. He has been a Visiting Faculty at the Asian Public Policy Program at Hitotsubashi University since the early 2000s. He has been a consultant or advisor to several Governments in Asia on tax policy and pension reforms; and to multi-lateral institutions including the International Monetary Fund, Asian Development Bank, World Health Organization (WHO), Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority (PFRDA) of India, Government of Gujarat, and the World Bank.
He is actively involved with various research organizations and think tanks, including ERIA (Economic Research Institute for ASEAN and East Asia) in Jakarta He is currently leading a project for ERIA on the role of public finances in provision of infrastructure in Asia. He served as Chairman, 5th State Finance Commission of Haryana from May 2016 to September 2017, when the Report was submitted. He was a member of the panel to review (between November 2017 and January 2018) Crawford School of Public Policy at the Australian National University.
He has led or participated in numerous Executive Development Programs for government officials at all levels. These include programs for the West Bengal, Assam, Madhya Pradesh, Indian Railways, and CAG (Comptroller and Auditor General of India), Indian Revenue Service, Russia, Kazakhstan Sri Lanka, Vietnam, Indonesia, Brunei, and Bangladesh.