Ila Patnaik is an Indian economist. and former Principal Economic Advisor to the Government of India. During this time, she prepared the Economic Survey of India, 2013-14 and contributed to numerous Government of India committees and task forces. In 2014, she was the only female economist ranked within the top ten in India, along with the likes of Nobel Laureate Amartya Sen and former RBI governors Y V Reddy, Raghuram Rajan and Urjit Patel. She also writes regular columns for the Indian Express. She is currently a professor at the National Institute of Public Finance and Policy (NIPFP).