Dr. M. K. Sukumaran Nair, Member Secretary and Member of the Board of Governors of the Institute, is an economist specializing on industrial development and regional development strategies. He has written extensively on regional industrial development strategies, cluster development, and employment. Dr. Nair has extensive experience in corporative development research in countries like, Canada, USA, West Indies, Botswana, and the Netherlands.

Dr. Biswaroop Das, Director, Centre for Social Studies (Indian Council of Social Science Research), Surat, is Vice-Chairman of the Institute. He is an expert on City and Regional Planning.

Mr. C.N.S. Nair, an economist by training, was a member of the Indian Administrative Service (IAS) for 36 years. He has served several administrative and managerial positions in the Indian Government, with specific expertise in the areas of enterprise development and integrated rural development. He is also Visiting Fellow at the University of Oxford, and carried out remarkable research work on the ‘Impact of Economic Liberalisation on India’s Poverty Alleviation Programmes’. Mr. Nair is Honorary Fellow at the Institute.

Dr. Herwig Palme, Member of the Academic Advisory Committee of ISED, is Professor of City and Regional Development in Vienna University, Austria. He specializes on SME clusters and Innovation.

Dr. J.M.I. Sait is Senior Fellow of the Institute. His specialisation includes, industrial policy and planning, local economic development, industrial Reengineering, marketing and SME finance. A consultant to several international organisations, Dr.Sait has evaluated several international projects.

Dr. Kamal Nayan Kabra, formerly Senior Professor of Economics at the Indian Institute of Public Administration, New Delhi, is Chairman of ISED. He was Director, Food Corporation of India; Chairman of the Committee to Review Forward Markets, Government of India; and Chairman of the Expert Committee on the Economics of Tobacco, Government of India. A prolific writer, he has published extensively on economic policy, and industrial development. His latest publications include the 'Black Economy in India: Problems and Policies'; 'Nationalisation in India: 1947-80 (2 Volumes)’, 'The Political Economy of Brain Drain'; 'Political Economy of Public Distribution of Food in India'; and 'Planning Process in a District, and Development Planning in India'.

Dr.Yerram Raju, Visiting Senior Fellow at the Institute of Small Enterprises and Development is an expert on SMEs and Finance. He was Senior Faculty and Dean of Studies at the Administrative Staff College of India, Hyderabad. Prof. Raju piloted the National Project on SSI Law, which was the forerunner of the MSME Act 2006. Was member of the Jury of Asia- Pacific Banker’s Congress, Manila, for the years 2004 and 2005, on the SME performance of global banks.

Mr.R. Thyagarajan , is Statistician of the Institute. An M.Phil from the University of Kerala, his special interests is commodity markets and social research. Mr.Thyagarajan has excellent analytical skills, and has initiated several large field operations.

Mr. Francis Gomas, is consultant to the Institute. A planning expert, Gomas has carried out several detailed studies urban and rural planning in India.

Dr. Tim Atterton, a doyen in the area of entrepreneurship research and modeling, is Director of the Curtin Business School, Curtin University of Technology, Western Australia. Prior to that, he was Executive Director to the Small Business Centre at the Durham Business School, UK. Member of the Academic Advisory Committee of ISED, Dr Atterton is also consultant to several international organizations.

Mr.S.G.Raoot, Former Joint Adviser, Planning Commission, is Senior Consultant at the Institute. Mr. Raoot has 25 years long experience in plan formulation and evaluation relating to MSME sector.

Mr. Henry Streefkerk, is Consultant to the Institute, based at Amsterdam, the Netherlands. An economist by training, Henry completed his studies in Tilburg and Geneva.

Dr. Bishwapriya Sanyal is Professor in the Department of Urban Studies & Planning, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and USA. His specializations include urban planning and informal sector. A Consultant to several international organizations, Dr. Sanyal is member of the Academic Advisory Committee of the Institute.

Dr. Meenu Tewari, member of the Academic Advisory Committee of the Institute, is Associate Professor in the Department of City and Regional Planning, University of North Carolina. She has served as a consultant with the United Nations Industrial Development Organization, the World Bank, International Labour Organization and the Inter-American Development Bank. Dr. Tewari works on the political economy of economic and industrial development, poverty alleviation, small firms, and the urban informal economy from a comparative, institutional perspective. She teaches in the areas of comparative economic development, historical and institutional analysis of development processes, and microeconomics.

Dr.N. Dharmaraj, Economist by background, is Research Associate and responsible for field operations of the Institute. His research interest includes human rights and economic deprivation.

Dr. J C Sandesara, former Director, Department of Economics, University of Bombay, is Honorary Fellow and member of the Academic Advisory Committee of the Institute. Dr. Sandesara is a pioneer of small industry research in India, and serves several high power committees of the Government of India and of financial institutions.

Dr. K R G Nair, a Development Economist and Senior Research Professor, Centre for Policy Research (CPR), New Delhi. Specialized in Regional Development, Dr.Nair has written widely on regional imbalances in India. He is member of the Academic Advisory Committee of the Institute.

Dr. Philip Kurian, Polymer Technologist and researcher, is Member of the Board of Governors of the Institute. Dr. Kurian has extensive exposure with the corporate sector, in addition to teaching, research and educational administration.

Mr.Burny Peter,  a journalist by training, is Research Assistant–cum– Programme Executive at the Institute.

Mr. T V R Murthy, a successful and dynamic SME entrepreneur based in Hyderabad. Member of the Academic Advisory Committee of the Institute, Mr. Murthy is an active member and past President of Federation of A.P Small Industries Association (FAPSIA).

Mr.A.V.Ramanathan,  an economist by background, he is Senior Consultant at the Institute, A specialist in industrial cluster development and export promotion, he was Export Development Adviser both at the Coir Board and the Coconut Development Board. Mr.Ramanathan played a key role in the development of the Tirupur Hosiery cluster in Tamil Nadu.

Mr. Peter Burns, management expert and Consultant to the Institute, is based in London. Peter is a specialist on corporate studies and corporate social responsibility.