Dr. Kiran Kumar Kakarlapudi is an Assistant Professor at the Gulati Institute of Finance and Taxation (GIFT), Thiruvananthapuram. His teaching and research are anchored in the taxation pillar of public finance, with a particular emphasis on Goods and Services Tax (GST), Union and State revenue performance, and the evolving design and impact of intergovernmental fiscal transfers.
He serves as the Coordinator of the Government Revenue Pillar at GIFT, where his work focuses on analysing GST implementation, revenue trends, and the broader fiscal architecture shaping India’s federal system. His research seeks to generate policy-relevant evidence on taxation and its role in addressing regional disparities and development outcomes.
Dr. Kiran holds a PhD in Economics from the Centre for Development Studies (CDS–JNU), Thiruvananthapuram, one of India’s premier institutions for development research. Prior to joining GIFT, he worked as a Consultant with the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (UN-ESCAP), South and South-West Asia Office, contributing to research and policy discussions on regional development challenges.
He has been part of research projects sponsored by the Indian Council of Social Science Research (ICSSR) and the Government of Kerala, and his work has been published in several national and international peer-reviewed journals. Earlier in his career, his research engaged with innovation-led growth, inclusive development, and the role of finance in shaping development outcomes, providing a strong foundation for his current work on taxation and public finance.
At GIFT, he actively contributes to academic programmes, policy dialogue, and capacity-building initiatives, with a continued commitment to bridging theory and practice through evidence-based research on taxation and development.