NEW DELHI: Suresh Goyal will take over as the director general of economic think-tank National Council of Applied Economic Research (NCAER) on January 5, 2026. Goyal will succeed Poonam Gupta, who led the organisation from July 2021 to April 2025. He has over 30 years of experience across private and public sectors. Goyal joins NCAER after his assignment as the Managing Director and CEO of the National Highway Infra Trust (NHIT), which was set up by the Ministry of Road Transport & Highways and the National Highways Authority of India to support the National Monetisation Pipeline. India’s largest and oldest economic think tank, NCAER, was established in 1956 on a public-private partnership by then Commerce Minister TT Krishnamachari and JRD Tata.