Dr Amitabh Kundu

A Senior Fellow at IORA, and a distinguished academic and policy expert with over four decades of experience spanning population studies, urban development, and statistical systems. 

Previously, he served as Professor at Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi, where he was also Dean of the School of Social Sciences. Internationally, he has been Regional Advisor on Poverty at UNESCWA, Consultant to the Government of Sri Lanka, and Visiting Professor at the University of Amsterdam, Sciences Po, MSH Paris, and multiple German universities. 

He has contributed extensively to national statistical and policy frameworks, serving on the National Statistical Commission and chairing committees on housing, sanitation, slum data, labour surveys, and minority welfare. He currently serves as Professor Emeritus at LJ University, Visiting Professor at Maulana Azad National Urdu University, and Senior Adviser at Development Alternatives. He is also Chairperson of Samarthan and part of major national labour force surveys and state advisory bodies.

Distinguished Fellow at Research and Information System for Developing Countries, he chairs the Standing Committee for the National Survey for the Swatch Bharat Mission at the Ministry of Drinking Water and Sanitation. He has chaired Committees on Housing Start up Index at RBI and Committee to Estimate Shortage of Affordable Housing, and Post Sachar Evaluation Committee, Govt of India. He has been Regional Advisor on Poverty at the UN, Professor and Dean at the Jawaharlal Nehru University, and a member of National Statistical Commission, Govt of India. He was the Director at the National Institute of Urban Affairs, Indian Council of Social Science Research, and Gujarat Institute of Development Research.