Madhusudhan Rao is a senior research advisor at Centre for Budget and Policy Studies (CBPS), Bengaluru. An agricultural economist by education, his work lies in the field of decentralisation, public finance, and policy. He has experience in analysing local governments budgets (rural and urban), and in training elected representatives and government officers on budgets. He previously worked as a senior research fellow at Grassroots Research and Advocacy Movement, Mysuru.