Belonging to the Indian Administrative Service 1985 batch, R Subrahmanyam has worked for 37 years covering the entire gamut of the social sector including tribal development, rural development, poverty alleviation, education and social justice. He worked for 4½ years as Secretary to Government of India, heading Higher Education and the Social Justice departments. He was involved in the redesign of the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MNREGA) by bringing in IT tools for timely delivery, improved outcomes and real-time monitoring of the programme. He promoted instruments for transparency and accountability in programme implementation, including social audits. As Education Secretary, Government of India, he led the preparation of the National Education Policy 2020 along with academicians and experts.

His areas of expertise include rural development, education, large programme design and innovation. He has established several institutions for improved programme delivery such as Higher Education Financing Agency, National Testing Agency.

He is a graduate in Economics from Madras Christian College, with a postgraduate in macroeconomics from the University of Bradford and an MBA in International Business from the Indian Institute of Foreign Trade.