Dr O.P Agarwal

Professor of Practice, ISPP
Former Joint Secretary
(Urban Transport), Union Ministry of Urban Development

Dr O.P. Agarwal was a member of the Indian Administrative Service from 1979 to 2007. He held several positions with the national and state government of Assam, including Joint Secretary (Training) to the Government of India in the Ministry of Personnel and Training for 2000 to 2005 and Joint Secretary (Urban Transport) in the national Ministry of Urban Development from 2005 to 2006. He was instrumental in redesigning the mid career training for IAS offices by introducing the Phase III, IV and V programs. He was also the principal author of the national urban transport policy which was adopted by the Government in April 2006 and has remained the key document guiding urban transport plans and investments since then.

He was also Secretary in the departments of Transport, Industries, Power and Higher Education in the State of Assam, at different points of time.
He has worked with the World Bank for 6 years as its global Urban Transport Adviser in Washington DC. He was an Executive Director in the Indian School of Business. He was also the CEO of the World Resources Institute from June 2017 to September 2022.

He chaired the US Transport Research Boards Committee on Transport in Developing countries for a period of 6 years. He has written several papers on urban transport policy and governance issues. His recent book entitled “Emerging Paradigms in Urban Mobility Planning, Financing and Implementation” was published by Elsevier.

He has a PhD in Transport Economics from the Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi, a Master’s degrees in Transportation and in Technology Policy from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, USA and a Bachelor’s degree in Electrical Engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology Madras.