Dr. K P Krishnan served in the Indian Administrative Service (IAS) for 37 years and superannuated on 31/12/2019. In his IAS career he has served in various positions in the Government of Karnataka, Government of India and at the World Bank. Besides field positions like District Collector Mangalore, he served in Government of Karnataka departments dealing with agriculture, co-operatives and marketing, urban development and infrastructure, commercial taxes and finance.
In the Government of India, he has served in key roles as Secretary, Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship (01/02/2017 to 31/12/2019); Special/Additional Secretary, Department of Land Resources, Ministry of Rural Development (2014-2017); Additional Secretary, Department of Economic Affairs, Ministry of Finance (2013- 2014); Secretary, Prime Minister’s Economic Advisory Council (2010- 2012); and Joint Secretary, Department of Economic Affairs, Ministry of Finance (2005-2010). In these positions he served on the boards of corporations, banks as well as boards of statutory regulatory authorities.
In parallel with his government career, Dr. Krishnan has been a strong researcher and academic. Besides being visiting faculty at IIM Bangalore, ISB and Ashoka University, he held the prestigious Bok Visiting Professorship of Regulation at the University of Pennsylvania Law School in 2012-13. From 07/08/2020 till 31/12/2021, he served as the IEPF Chair Professor of Economics at the National Council of Applied Economic Research (NAER) New Delhi. At present he is Honorary Research Professor at the Centre for Policy Research (CPR) New Delhi.
At present, he is an independent Director on the Boards of Shriram Capital Limited, Dr. Reddy’s Laboratories Limited, Tata Consumer Product Limited and Directors on the boards of a few not for profit institutions working in the areas of education and public health.
Dr. Krishnan was educated in Economics at St. Stephens College and Law at the Campus Law Centre University of Delhi. He joined IIM Bangalore in 1999 and was awarded FPM (Ph.D) in Economics in 2003.