Faculty
Publications
Events
Placement
About Us
The Department of Economic Sciences has 26 permanent faculty members with research and teaching interests that cover a broad range of fields. Apart from having strength in traditional areas like microeconomics, macroeconomics, and econometrics; the department has expertise in agricultural economics, Bayesian econometrics, behavioral economics, development economics, efficiency, and productivity analysis, environmental economics, financial economics, health economics, industrial economics, international trade, labor economics, law and economics, optimization theory, political economy, family economics, and public policy.
The department primarily offers four degrees in economics: 4 years B.S., 1 year M.S., 2 year M.Sc., and Ph.D. in Economics. Admission for the 52 seats (per year) in the B.S. program is through the advanced joint entrance examination (JEE). B.S. students who satisfy certain eligibility criteria can opt for a 1 year M.S. program in Economics. There is also a provision for the dual degree for undergraduate students of IITK. Admission to the M.Sc. program is through JAM/GATE and a written test conducted by IIT Kanpur. Entry to the Ph.D. program is through a written test and a viva exam conducted once at the beginning of each academic year. The department also offers several e-Masters programs.
- EAP Best Paper Award-2025 New
Research paper “Usage and Health Impact of Toilets: Evidence from a Nationwide Sanitation Program in India” by Shahid Majeed Dar & Sukumar Vellakkal has been selected as the winner of the Economic Analysis and Policy Best Paper Award 2025.
The paper was published in the Journal Economic Analysis and Policy (ABDC-A; Scopus Q1 in Economics & Econometrics) in 2025. - Annual Conference 2026–2027: “Public Policy – An Indian Perspective” | August 7–8, 2026 | Department of Economic Sciences, IIT Kanpur New
- Convocation 2026: Guest of Honor New
Dr. Tirthankar Patnaik, Chief Economist - National Stock Exchange of India (NSE) - Prof. Smriti Verma joins the department as a faculty member. New
- Final result of Ph.D. Admissions 2026–27 Semester I
- Ph.D admission notice for 2026-27/Semester I
- Research Scholars' Day, February 12-14, 2026
- Symposium on Frontier Areas of Trade & Diplomacy with Focus on Partial and General Equilibrium Approaches- Friday, February 6, 2026.
- Online M.Sc program in Economics and Data Analytics commences
- Dr. Manpreet Singh joins the department as a faculty member.
- Selected candidates for Ph.D. admissions in Semester II (2025-26)
- Call for Papers – Research Scholars’ Day 2026
The Department of Economic Sciences, IIT Kanpur will be organising Research Scholars’ Day 2026 on February 13–14, 2026. - Ph.D Admission for 2025-26/II (starting January 2026): Applications are invited
- Admissions are now open for online M.Sc in Economics and Data Analystics
- Symposium on Economic Theory and Experiments to be held on Saturday, November 1, 2025
- Annual Conference 2025–2026: “Public Policy – An Indian Perspective” | August 29–30, 2025 | Department of Economic Sciences, IIT Kanpur
- Convocation 2025: Guest of Honour
Dr. Samiran Chakraborty (Managing Director and Chief Economist, India, Citigroup) - Follow @iitk_econ on Twitter for latest updates
- Recent PhD Placements
Title: Temperature Shocks and Household Consumption: The Role of Economic Sentiments
Speaker: Dr. Ronit Mukherji, Ashoka University
Date: April 16, 2026, 4:00-5:00 pm; Venue: Room 435, ESB-2
Title: Functional Data Analysis with Applications in Finance
Speaker: Dr. Rituparna Sen, ISI Bangalore
Date: April 09, 2026, 4:00-5:00 pm; Venue: Room 435, ESB-2
Title: Fixed Payments, Variable Risk: Heterogeneity in Consumer EMI Contracts
Speaker: Dr. Nirvana Mitra, Indian School of Business, Hyderabad
Date: April 2, 2026, 4:00-5:00 pm; Venue: Room 435, ESB-2
Title: Attitudes and norms about intimate partner violence: What makes women more impressionable?
Speaker: Dr. Gaurav Dhamija, Indian Institute of Technology Hyderabad
Date: March 18, 2026, 5:00-6:00 PM; Venue: Room 435, ESB-2
Title: Newton-type Methods for Generalized Nash Equilibrium Problems
Speaker: Prof. Andreas Fischer, Faculty of Mathematics, Technische Universität Dresden, Germany
Date: January 23, 2026, 4:00-5:00 PM; Venue: Room 435, ESB-2
Title: Linear Programming Duality: Two natural approaches and some applications to Economics
Speaker: Prof. Juan Enrique Martinez-Legaz, Department of Economic Theory and Economic History, Universidad Autonoma de Barcelona, Spain
Date: November 03, 2025, 2:30 PM to 3:30 PM; Venue: Room 435, ESB-2
Title: Fire in the Fields, Crime in the Air
Speaker: Dr. Digvijay Singh Negi, Associate Professor, Ashoka University
Date: October 09, 2025, 3:30 PM to 4:30 PM; Venue: Room 435, ESB-2
Title: Staying the Course: Experimental Evidence on Female Role Models and Women’s Higher Education
Speaker: Dr. Bharti Nandwani, Indira Gandhi Institute of Development Research
Date: September 12, 2025, 10:00 AM to 11:00 AM; Venue: Room 435, ESB-2
Title: Does Financial Inclusion Increase Household Resilience to Natural Disasters?
Speaker: Dr. Ashish Sedai from University of Texas at Arlington
Date: August 19, 2025, 5.00 PM to 6.00 PM; Venue: Room 435, ESB-2
Title: The Cost of Inaction: Impacts of Humanitarian Assistance Shortfalls on Refugees and Internally Displaced Persons
Speaker: Dr. Anubhab Gupta from Virginia Tech University, USA
Date: April 15, 2025, 11.00 AM to 12.00 PM; Venue: Room 435, ESB-2
Title: Challenges to India Becoming a Developed Country (Viksit Bharat) by 2047
Speaker: Prof. D. Narasimha Reddy, formerly Professor of Economics at the University of Hyderabad
Date: March 27, 2025, 6.30 PM to 7.30 PM; Venue: LHC-9
Title: Regularized Opinion Pools for Density Forecasts under Bayesian Inspired Framework
Speaker: Dr. Parush Arora from Ashoka University
Date: March 24, 2025, 11:00 AM to 12:00 PM; Venue: ESB-2/435
Title: Delegation with Flexible Information Acquisition: Ignoring the Left Tail
Speaker: Dr. Nishant Ravi from Indian School of Business (ISB, India)
Date: February 13, 2025, 3:00 PM to 4:00 PM; Venue: ESB-2/435
Title: Global Univalence and Factor price equalization via the class of P Matrices
Speaker: Prof. T E S Raghavan, Emeritus Professor at the University of Illinois at Chicago, USA
Date: January 27, 2025, 11:00 AM to 12:00 PM; Venue: ESB-2/435
Title: Differential Regulation and Firm Responses: A Study of the CAFE Standard
Speaker: Dr. Nafisa Lohawala, a fellow at Resources for the Future, USA
Date: November 29th, 3:00 PM to 4:00 PM; Venue: ESB-2/435
Title: Three Score and 15 Years (1948-2023) of Rao’s Score Test: A Brief History
Speaker: Prof. Anil Bera from Professor of Economics, College of LAS, University of Illinois, USA
Date: October 25th, 3:30 PM to 4:30 PM; Venue: ESB-2/435
Title: The relevant third: threat of coalition and economic development
Speaker: Dr. Somdeep Chatterjee from IIM Calcutta
Date: October 18th, 3:00 PM to 4:00 PM; Venue: ESB-2/435
Title: Teacher Quality in Delhi's High Schools
Speaker: Dr. Deepti Goel from Pitzer College in Claremont, USA
Date: September 27th, 4:30 PM to 5:30 PM; Venue: Virtual
Title: A Discussion on the June 2024 Financial Stability Report
Speaker: Shri Rakesh Kumar (DGM), Shri Prem Mohan (AGM), and Shri Aniket Singh (Manager), from the Reserve Bank of India
Date: September 13th, 11:00 am; Venue: ESB-2/435
Title: Uses of Machine Learning in Applied Economics
Speaker: Lucie Maruejols from Institute of Agricultural Economics, the Christian-Albrechts-University of Kiel, Germany
Date: August 23rd, 3:30 pm; Venue: ESB-2/435
Public policy Lecture
Title: Diversity of India and Its Relevance in Framing the Public Policy
Speaker: Bhagwan Shankar, IAS (retired)
Date: August 20th, 12:00 pm; Venue: ESB-2/435
Title: Local Media Reports about Sexual Crimes and Judicial Outcomes in India
Speaker: Mahima Vasishth from Bocconi University
Date: August 9th, 3:30 pm; Venue: ESB-2/435
Title: Optimum Design of Automated Market Makers
Speaker: Prof. Ashish Goel from Stanford University, USA
Date: August 1st, 3:30 pm; Venue: KD 101
Title: Do individuals follow recommendations?
Speaker: Prof. Indrajit Ray from Cardiff University, UK
Date: July 19th, 11:00 am; Venue: ESB-2/435
Title: Economic and Financial Performance of Indian IT Services Export Firms.
Speaker: Prof. P.M.Rao from Long Island University, New York
Date: July 2nd, 12:00 noon; Venue: ESB-2/435
Title: Computable comparative statics of equilibrium in partially ordered models.
Speaker: Tarun Sabarwal from University of Kansas, USA
Date: May 31st, 11:00 am; Venue: ESB-2/435
Title: A theory of international alliances
Speaker: Raghul S. Venkatesh, IISER, Bhopal
Date: April 18th, 3:00 pm; Venue: LH-08
Title: Welfare effects of catastrophic climate events on mountain communities: a case study of the Uttarakhand flash floods
Speaker: Meeta K. Mehra, JNU
Date: April 8th, 12:00 pm; Venue: LH-03
Title: Stable matching with privately observed payments
Speaker: Arunava Sen, ISI, Delhi
Date: April 4th, 3:00 pm; Venue: LH-08
Title: Reserve price competition with demand uncertainty
Speaker: Jeevant Rampal, IIM Ahmedabad
Date: March 21st; Venue: ESB-2/435
Title: Nudging marriage norms through cash transfers
Speaker: Rohini Somanathan, DSE, University of Delhi
Date: March 18th; Venue: ESB-2/435
Public policy Lecture
Title: Insurance sector's role in the Indian economy
Speaker: Abhay Tewari, Managing Director and CEO of Star Union Dai-ichi Life Insurance
Date: March 14th, 12:00 pm; Venue: ESB-2/435
Title: Dynamics of firm growth around policy thresholds: evidence from India
Speaker: Bhanu Gupta, Ashoka University
Date: March 4th, 11:00 am; Venue: ESB-2/435
Public policy Lecture
Title: Public policy in India: concepts and experiences
Speaker: Mr. Kumar Alok, IAS (retired)
Date: March 1st, 12:00 pm; Venue: ESB-2/435
Colloquium Talk Series
Title: Measuring political power at the state level and domination power at individual family level via the Shapley value and the nucleolus
Speaker: T.E.S. Raghavan, University of Illinois Chicago.
Date: February 27th,4:00 pm - 5:00 pm; Venue: LH8
Title: Final offer arbitration
Speaker: T.E.S. Raghavan, University of Illinois, Chicago
Date: February 26th, 11:00 am; Venue: ESB-2/435
Title: Bargaining and cooperation in dynamic games
Speaker: Dilip Abreu, New York University
Date: January 17th, 3:00 pm; Venue: ESB-2/435
- Lohawala, N. and Rahman, M.A. (2026), "Do Determinants of EV Purchase Intent vary across the Spectrum? Evidence from Bayesian Analysis of US Survey Data,” Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Volume 207, 2026, 104961, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tra.2026.104961.
- Vinayak Krishnatri. and Sukumar Vellakkal (2026), “Does Alcohol Prohibition Improve Caloric and Macronutrient Intake from Healthy Food Sources? Evidence from Bihar, India,” Journal of Agricultural Economics (Wiley; ABDC-A, Scopus Q1 in Economics & Econometrics), 57(1), 1–18. https://doi.org/10.1111/agec.70090
- Shahid Majeed Dar and Sukumar Vellakkal (2026), “Ban and Benefit: Effects of Alcohol Ban on Child Nutrition,” The B.E. Journal of Economic Analysis & Policy (De Gruyter; ABDC-A, Scopus Q2 in Economics, Econometrics & Finance), online ahead of print. https://doi.org/10.1515/bejeap-2025-0390
- Nisha Mishra and Sukumar Vellakkal (2026), “Mother’s Education and Child Nutrition: Evidence of Intergenerational Effect from a School Cycle Program, India,” The Journal of Development Studies (Taylor & Francis; ABDC-A, Scopus Q1 in Development), online ahead of print, pp. 1–22. https://doi.org/10.1080/00220388.2026.2703545
- Nisha Mishra and Sukumar Vellakkal (2026), “Conditional Cash Incentives, Community Health Workers, and Continuum of Maternal Healthcare: Evidence from India,” Health Policy and Planning (Oxford University Press; Scopus Q1 in Health Policy), 41(4), 612–626. https://doi.org/10.1093/heapol/czag019
- Vasudev C., Mishra S., Rathi A., Fledderjohann J. and Sukumar Vellakkal (2026), “Diverse Coping Strategies for Food Insecurity: A Qualitative Study of Economically Precarious Households in India in the Context of COVID-19,” PLOS ONE (Public Library of Science; Scopus Q1 in Medicine), 21(6), e0350020. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0350020
- Mishra S., Rathi A., Vasudev C., Fledderjohann J. and Sukumar Vellakkal (2026), “Food, Education, and Aspirations: Perceptions and Experiences of India’s Mid-day Meal Scheme,” Journal of Social Policy (Cambridge University Press; ABDC-A, Scopus Q1 in Social Policy), accepted 17 July 2026; in production.
- Anindya K., Zhao Y., Sukumar Vellakkal, Perianayagam A., Pati S., Marthias T., Malik M. and Lee J.T. (2026), “State-Level Variations in Hypertension Management and Cardiovascular Disease Risks in India: Public Spending on Health and Socioeconomic Inequalities,” Gerontology (Karger; Scopus Q2), 72(2), 95–109. https://doi.org/10.1159/000549706
- Srivastava, A., & Mathur, S. K. (2026). Global Consequences of Second Round of Tariffs: A General Equilibrium Approach.
The Journal of Economic Integration
- Chauhan, M., & Mathur, S. K. (forthcoming). The impact of productivity shocks on carbon emissions, energy use, economic growth and welfare: The use of global economy models and spatial analysis. In Climate Change and Resilience in South Asia (Edited volume). Asian Development Bank Institute (ADBI). (Accepted April 9, 2026).
Programs Offered
BS/MS Program
BS/MS program in Economics
M.Sc. Program
M.Sc. program in Economics
Ph.D. Program
Ph.D. in Economics
e-Masters
e-Masters programs for freshers and professionals.