Gita Gopinath Wiki, Age, Husband, Children, Family, Biography & More

Gita Gopinath is an Indian American economist who was appointed as the First Deputy Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund in January 2022.

Wiki/Biography

Gita Gopinath was born on Wednesday, 8 December 1971 (age 52 Years; as of 2023) in Kolkata, India. She completed her schooling at Nirmala Convent School in Mysore. In 1992, she pursued B.A. in Economics at Lady Shri Ram College for Women, University of Delhi and M.A. in economics at Delhi School of Economics, Delhi University, in 1994. Later, she earned a master’s degree from the University of Washington in 1996. In 2001, Gita did PhD in economics at Princeton University. In July 2018, Gita was invited for an interview for the Chief Economist at the IMF, she cleared the interview and was appointed as the Chief Economist of the IMF. Gita was the first Indian woman to be elected as the Chief Economist of IMF, and she is also the first Director of IMF’s Research department and the Economic Counsellor of the Fund.

Gita Gopinath did a lot of research on international finance and macroeconomics published by several top economic journals.

Physical Appearance

Height (approx.): 5′ 6″ 

Hair Colour: Black

Eye Colour: Black

Family

Gita belongs to a Hindu middle-class Malayali family, who lived in Kolkata, and later when Gita was 9 years old, they shifted to Mysuru, Karnataka. Gita often comes to India to meet her parents.

Parents & Siblings

Gita Gopinath’s father’s name is T. V. Gopinath. He is an agriculturist and the Vice President of Raita Mitra Farmer Producer Company Limited. Gita’s mother’s name is V. C. Vijaya Lakshmi. She owned a playschool and worked there for around 30 years. Gita has one elder sister, Anita.

Husband & Children

Gita’s husband’s name is Iqbal Singh Dhaliwal. He is the Global Executive Director at Abdul Latif Jameel Poverty Action Lab at the Department of Economics, Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Iqbal and Gita were classmates at Delhi University. Gita and Iqbal got engaged in 1997 and married in 1999. During their college studies, they both prepared for the UPSC exam. Iqbal cleared the exam as a first rank holder in 1995 and became an IAS officer of Tamil Nadu cadre, and he served as an IAS officer for 5 years after which he left his job and moved to the United States along with Gita, where they blessed with a son, Rahil Singh Dhaliwal.

Career

Teaching

In 2001, Gita Gopinath joined as an assistant professor of economics at the University of Chicago’s Booth School of Business. Gita Gopinath, in 2005, joined Harvard University in the US. She joined as the John Zwaanstra Professor of International Studies and Economics at Harvard University. For a few years, Gita was on a leave of public service from the economics department to serve as the Chief Economist of the International Monetary Fund (IMF). She is the third woman and the second Indian to be made a permanent member of the economics department at Harvard.

F

The research areas of Gita Gopinath include International Finance and Macroeconomics. She has written various articles on the exchange rate, investment, and trade.

Economist at IMF

Gita Gopinath, in July 2018, was invited for the interview of the chief economist at IMF. She cleared her interview and was appointed as the Chief Economist of IMF. Gita is the first Indian American woman to be elected as the Chief Economist at the IMF. She worked as the Economic Counsellor of the Fund and Director of its Research Department for 3 years, and later, she was promoted to the First Deputy Managing Director of IMF, which is the second position in the organization

Apart from this, Gita Gopinath is also the co-director of the International Finance and Macroeconomics program at the National Bureau of Economic Research. Earlier, Gita Gopinath served as a member of the economic advisory panel of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, and the Economic Adviser to Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan of Kerala (India). In 2018, Gita Gopinath was elected as a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and the Econometric Society. In 2019, she became the editor of the International Economic Handbook, and she also has served as the co-editor of the American Economy.

Awards

• Gita Gopinath received the Bhagwati Prize for the best paper published in the Journal of International Economics in 2003 and 2004.

• Gita Gopinath was awarded the Pravasi Bharatiya Samman by the Embassy of India in Washington D.C. USA on 9 January 2019.

  Gita Gopinath receiving Pravasi Bhartiya Samman

• In 2017, Gita Gopinath received the Department of Economics Distinguished Alumnus Award from the University of Washington.

• Gita was awarded the Princeton Woodrow Wilson Fellowship Research Award for Doctoral Research at Princeton University.

Achievements

• Gita, in 2014, was named one of the top 25 economists by the International Monetary Fund.

•  Gita was selected as a Young Global Leader (YGL) by the World Economic Forum in 2011.

• Gita Gopinath was named one of the 25 most influential women of the year by the Financial Times in 2021.

• In 2020, Gita Gopinath was declared the Woman of the Year by Vogue India.

• In 2021, the International Economic Association named Gita The Schumpeter-Haberler Distinguished Fellow.

• Gita Gopinath was named on the list ’50 People Who Defined 2019′ by Time Magazine.

Favourites

• Sports: Cricket and Football

Facts/Trivia

• Gita Gopinath is the third woman and the second Indian American after Nobel laureate Amartya Sen to be appointed as the permanent member of the economics department at Harvard University.

• According to Gita Gopinath, during her childhood days, she once participated in a fashion show.

• In an interview, Gita’s parents revealed that in her childhood, she was more interested in sports than in studies.

• Apart from Hindi and English, Gita can speak American English, Kannada, and Malayalam languages.

• Gita is also co-director of the International Finance and Macroeconomics program at the National Bureau of Economic Research.

• Before joining as the chief economist, Gita was also a visiting scholar at the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston.

• Gopinath is also a member of the economic advisory panel of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York.