NCAER appoints Suresh Goyal as 11th Director General
The National Council of Applied Economic Research (NCAER), India’s oldest and one of its largest economic policy think tanks, on Monday announced the appointment of Suresh Goyal as its 11th Director General, effective January 5, 2026.
Goyal will succeed Dr Poonam Gupta, who served as Director General from July 2021 to April 2025.
Announcing the appointment, NCAER said it is welcoming “a visionary leader to accelerate its growth, expand research centres, and deepen engagement with governments”, in line with India’s long-term development goals under Viksit Bharat @2047.
NCAER currently undertakes research across multiple domains, including national growth and macroeconomics, human development and data innovation, computable general equilibrium modelling, agriculture, industry, trade, technology and skills, gender and macroeconomy, and state- and sector-level policy analysis.
The institution works with more than 12 central government ministries, three state governments, and 13 other organisations.
The NCAER Governing Board has mandated Goyal to complement the organisation’s existing capabilities by mobilising a significantly larger endowment and establishing new research centres focused on emerging areas such as states’ growth, health economics, macroeconomics, finance, and data insights.
Nandan Nilekani, Chairman of the NCAER Governing Board, said Goyal’s appointment comes at a crucial juncture for the institution.
“We are delighted to welcome Mr Suresh Goyal as the new Director General of NCAER. His leadership comes at a pivotal moment as we pursue ambitious goals of expanding our endowment, creating multiple research centres, and working closely with central and state governments to amplify NCAER’s role in shaping India’s growth and development agenda,” Nilekani said.
Goyal brings over three decades of experience across the private and public sectors. He joins NCAER from his most recent role as Managing Director and CEO of the National Highway Infra Trust (NHIT), an entity set up by the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways and the National Highways Authority of India to support the government’s National Monetisation Pipeline.
Joining NHIT as its first employee in 2020, Goyal built it into one of India’s largest road infrastructure platforms, with an enterprise value of approximately ₹48,000 crore. He managed a diverse set of stakeholders, including a 10-member board comprising government representatives, institutional investors and independent directors, and steered NHIT towards consistent performance.
Prior to his public-sector role, Goyal spent most of his career in the private sector. His last private-sector assignment was with Macquarie Infrastructure & Real Assets, where he served as Senior Managing Director and Head of India and Southeast Asia, based in Singapore.
Accepting the appointment, Goyal said he looked forward to building on NCAER’s legacy while steering it towards new research frontiers.
“I am pleased to accept the role of Director General of NCAER and thank the Governing Board for the confidence it has placed in me. I look forward to working closely with NCAER’s leadership and staff as we pivot the organisation towards new directions while leveraging the strong foundation built over decades. Together, we will enable NCAER to contribute meaningfully to India’s journey towards Viksit Bharat,” he said.
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