R. Srinivasan, Ph.D., (1963-) serves as the ‘Secretary and Research Officer’ for the “High-Level Committee on Union-State Relations” under the Government of Tamil Nadu, a position he assumed in June 2025.

Prior to his current role, he served as a Full-Time Member of the State Planning Commission from June 2021 to May 2025. He previously served the Commission in both full-time and part-time capacities between 2006 and 2011.

His policy expertise frequently intersects with educational and fiscal evaluation. Recently, he chaired the Committee to Evaluate Finances of State Universities in Tamil Nadu and served as a member of the State Committee on Education Policy.

Earlier in his career, he also contributed his expertise as an Economist for the state's Tax Reforms and Revenue Augmentation Commission in 2002–2003.

His doctoral thesis, “Union Financial Transfers and Horizontal Equity in India,” laid the academic foundation for his lifelong focus on fiscal federalism.

He began his academic career as a Lecturer in Economics for the governments of Tamil Nadu and Pondicherry in 1988. He later enjoyed a long tenure at the University of Madras, teaching postgraduate applied economics in the Department of Econometrics, serving as an Associate Professor from 2008 to 2014 and Professor from 2014 to 2021.

He also held the significant administrative role of University Registrar from October 2017 to October 2020.

R. Srinivasan is actively publishing in peer-reviewed journals, academic books, and mainstream newspapers. His academic work predominantly explores fiscal federalism, multidimensional poverty, state-level economic dynamics, and the impacts of taxation systems such as VAT and GST.

Beyond academia, he is a frequent op-ed contributor to major English-language dailies and magazines, including The Hindu, Frontline, The New Indian Express, and The Hindu Business Line.

Through these platforms, he analyses pressing socio-economic issues such as state election dynamics, central-state financial transfers, and education reform.

He has also authored over 100 columns for Tamil publications like The Hindu (Tamil) and Naanayam Vikatan.