Seventy-five years after Independence, India has much to be proud of and is both the world’s biggest democracy and the fastest-growing large economy. Yet, it also faces profound challenges that hinder both individual well-being and aggregate growth, including education and skills, health and nutrition, public safety, justice, social protection, and jobs.

In his highly acclaimed recent book, “Accelerating India’s Development” (Penguin 2024), Prof. Karthik Muralidharan systematically analyses India’s governance challenges, especially in delivering essential public services, and highlights how these are limiting India’s development. Drawing on a wealth of research and practical insights, it provides actionable, evidence-based strategies, emphasizing state-level reforms as critical for India’s advancement. Written to be widely accessible, the book aims to bridge the gap between scholarly research, public understanding, and actionable governance. Further, while the book is about India, many of the ideas are relevant globally.

This talk will provide a high-level overview of the main argument of the book.

Karthik Muralidharan is the Tata Chancellor’s professor of economics at the University of California San Diego (UCSD). His research spans public finance and development economics with a focus on improving education, health, welfare, and public service delivery; and has been published in several world-leading academic journals including the American Economic Review, Quarterly Journal of Economics, Journal of Political Economy, and Econometrica. He has also actively engaged in policy advising and capacity building in India at both Central and state government levels, and in public communication of research insights through several op-eds and podcasts.

Professor Muralidharan is also the co-founder and scientific director of the Centre for Effective Governance of Indian States, a non-profit organization that works with multiple state governments across India to improve state capacity, governance, and service delivery.

Born and raised in India, he holds a bachelor’s degree in economics from Harvard, an MPhil from Cambridge (UK), and a PhD in economics from Harvard.

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