Santosh Mehrotra is Visiting Professor, Higher School of Economics, Moscow, and Centre for Development Studies, University of Bath, UK and ex-Prof (Econ) and Chair of the Centre for Informal Sector and Labour, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi. He is also Research Fellow, IZA Institute of Labour Economics, Luxembourg

After an MA (Econ) from New School for Social Research, New York, and Phd (Econs), Cambridge University (1985), Santosh spent 15 years with the UN (1991-2006) in research positions, heading UNICEF’s global research programme on social/economic policy at the Innocenti Research Centre, Florence, and as chief economist of the global Human Development Report New York. He returned to India to head the Rural Development Division and Development Policy Division of Planning Commission (2006-09), and was lead author of several chapters of the 11th & 12th Five Year Plans of India, and the India Human Development Report.

He was also the Director General (2009-14) of the National Institute of Labour Economics Research, Planning Commission, in the rank of Secretary to the Government of India. He advises the current NITI, the Ministry of Labour, and the Ministry of Skill Development. His latest books include   1. India Out of Work. Rethinking India's Growth Story, Bloomsbury India, (with Prof J Parida) http://bit.ly/4wDcPDP; 2. Bharat mein Garibi (in Hindi) or Poverty in India, Rajkamal Publications, New Delhi https://bit.ly/4ufTGq5; 3. Har Haath of Kaam, in Hindi, (or Providing Work for Every Potential Worker in India), Rajpal Publications, New Delhi; 4.  Planning in the 20th Century and Beyond: India's Planning Commission and NITI Aayog,Cambridge University Press. 5. Reviving Jobs: An Agenda for Growth, Penguin Random House, 2025. 

His writings have been translated into Hindi, Spanish, French, Russian, German and Portuguese.

Santosh Mehrotra joined IZA as a Research Fellow in August 2021.