CAMBRIDGE, Mass.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--The Massachusetts Institute of Technology is honored to welcome Dr. Montek Singh Ahluwalia, Deputy Chairman of the Government of India's Planning Commission. Dr. Ahluwalia, India's chief policy advisor, will open the inaugural B&K Securities MIT India Forum with a public lecture on Sept. 9. His talk is titled "Toward India 2020: Challenges and Opportunities."

The B&K Securities MIT India Forum is part of the MIT India Initiative, an Institute-wide effort to look at new ways of fostering MIT's century-long ties with India. The Initiative is led by Professor Abhijit Banerjee and Professor Charles Cooney, who launched the Forum as a way to stimulate interest in and knowledge about India, and to discuss and debate the most pressing issues facing India today. Following the lecture, Dr. Ahluwalia will be meeting with faculty leaders to discuss the next phase of the MIT-India relationship.

"The frontiers of knowledge, technology, and enterprise stretch around the world," commented Professor Philip S. Khoury, Associate Provost and head of strategic planning for international education and research. "So now is the time to convene more conversations with India, one of MIT's most important global partners. Dr. Ahluwalia's visit has generated tremendous excitement both on campus and in the greater Boston community."

Appointed in 2004, Dr. Ahluwalia will discuss his role in advancing India's recent policies of liberalization. He spent 11 years of service with the World Bank in Washington, D.C. before returning to India as an economic advisor. He has previously held positions as India's Finance Secretary, Secretary of Economic Affairs, and Special Advisor to the Indian Ministry of Finance. In 2007, Dr. Ahluwalia became a member of the Group of Thirty, an international body of the world's most senior and influential economists.

The B&K Securities MIT India Forum is open to the general public and begins at 11:00 am in MIT's Bartos Theater, which is located in the Wiesner Building on Ames Street. Future Forums will continue on a quarterly basis, and may examine such topics as India's rapid economic transformation, R&D manufacturing in South Asia, and social enterprise.

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