Renowned Indian-American economist Gita Gopinath is set to resign from her role as the First Deputy Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) at the end of August 2025. The IMF announced that she will return to her academic roots at Harvard University, where she will rejoin the faculty as a professor of economics.
Calling her time at the IMF a “once-in-a-lifetime opportunity,” Gopinath expressed gratitude to IMF Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva and former chief Christine Lagarde, who had appointed her as the IMF’s Chief Economist. Below, we explore her journey and the reason behind her decision to return to academia.
Who Is Gita Gopinath?
Gita Gopinath was born on December 8, 1971, in Kolkata, into a Malayali Nair Hindu family originally from Kannur, Kerala. She is also related to the prominent Communist leader A.K. Gopalan.
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Gita Gopinath Education
Gita completed her schooling at Nirmala Convent in Mysuru and earned a bachelor’s degree in economics from Lady Shri Ram College in 1992, as per her LinkedIn account. Gopinath went on to complete her master’s at the Delhi School of Economics in 1994, followed by a second master’s at the University of Washington in 1996. She later earned her PhD in Economics from Princeton University in 2001.
Her teaching career began at the University of Chicago’s Booth School of Business in 2001. In 2005, she joined the Economics Department at Harvard University, eventually becoming the John Zwanstra Professor of International Studies and Economics. Gopinath made history in 2018 by becoming the IMF’s first female Chief Economist.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, she co-authored the influential ‘Pandemic Paper,’ which laid the groundwork for a global task force including the World Bank, World Health Organization, and World Trade Organization.
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She was appointed First Deputy Managing Director of the IMF in December 2021. She has also served as co-director of the International Finance and Macroeconomics Program at the National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER) and as an advisor to the Federal Reserve Banks of New York and Boston.
Gita Gopinath Husband
Gita Gopinath is married to Iqbal Singh Dhaliwal, her former classmate at Delhi School of Economics. The couple has a son, Rohil, born in 2002.
Why Gita Gopinath Is Leaving The IMF?
In an official statement, the IMF confirmed that Gopinath would leave the organisation by the end of August to resume her academic role at Harvard University, where she taught for over a decade before joining the Fund.
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Harvard has announced that she will return as the inaugural Gregory and Ania Coffey Professor of Economics, with new courses planned for the upcoming spring semester.
Her return coincides with a tense political moment at Harvard, as the university remains in conflict with former US President Donald Trump and his supporters over governance and admissions issues.
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Expressing her appreciation for her time at the IMF, Gopinath stated, “It has been an extraordinary opportunity. I’m now returning to academia, eager to further research in international macroeconomics and finance, and to mentor the next generation of economists.”
Kristalina Georgieva praised Gopinath’s leadership during critical periods such as the COVID-19 pandemic and the economic fallout from the war in Ukraine, calling her a ‘remarkable intellectual force’ at the IMF.
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