Yamini Aiyar is currently Visiting Senior Fellow, CSEP.

She is also Senior Visiting Fellow, Saxena Center for Contemporary South Asia and Watson Institute, Brown University, where she is working on a comparison of welfare states in the Global South. Previously, she was President and Chief Executive of the Centre for Policy Research, a leading multidisciplinary think tank in New Delhi, from 2017-2024. Prior to becoming President, she set up the Accountability Initiative, known for its work on governance, social accountability and expenditure tracking. Yamini’s research spans the fields of contemporary politics, state capacity, welfare policy, federalism and India’s political economy. Her latest book, Lessons in State Capacity from Delhi Schools, was published by Oxford University Press in December 2024. Yamini has published widely in academic and current affairs journals as well as the popular press, including in the Economist, Foreign Affairs, Journal of Democracy, Hindustan Times, Deccan Herald, and The Hindu.