“In (the Presidency) culture, there was a kind of easy transition from what was happening in the classes to what was happening across the street in Coffee House. And if I can think of a practitioner of excellent teaching and excellent teaching and great conversation, it is hard to think of anyone that could come close to Dipak Banerjee” - Prof. Amartya Sen.

The department has started a lecture series in memory of Professor Bhabatosh Datta from 2022. Professor Datta was a noted economist, academic and writer. He studied BA in Economics at the Presidency College and later obtained his Ph.D from the London School of Economics. His dissertation was later published as the much celebrated book The Economics of Industrialisation (1952). During his tenure at Presidency, he produced a galaxy of eminent students like AmartyaSen, Sukhamoy Chakraborty, Bimal Jalan and so on. In 1990, he was awarded the Padma Vibhushan, the second highest civilian award, by the government of India. Till his death in 1997, he continued to publish regular columns on the state of Indian economy and society.

Every second year, the Department organizes an International Conference on Issues in Economic Theory and Policy. The conference is funded by a generous endowment given by Prof. Mukul Majumdar, HT Warshow and Robert Irving Warshow Professor in the Economics Department at Cornell University, in the memory of his late father, Prof. Nirmal Kanti Majumdar, an ex-faculty in the Political Science Department, Presidency College. We are grateful to Prof. Majumdar for his support and encouragement in our endeavour.

Mr. Pasupati Sadhukha, an alumni of the Chemistry Department of erstwhile Presidency College, had given an endowment to encourage entrepreneurship through a process of industry-academic interaction. This objective has been attained by creating an annual forum in the form of an Entrepreneurship Development Summit where entrepreneurs from different industries are invited to interact with students. Simultaneously a Business Plan competition is organized with participation from students from different institutes. The technical assistance and guidance provided by the Entrepreneurship Incubation Center, Indian Institute of Management, Kolkata every year has been invaluable.

The Department organizes special lectures and workshops for students and scholars of the UG, PG and PhD courses. Eminent faculty from national and international academic and research institutes speak on their areas of expertise in these events.

Every week, generally on Wednesdays, the Department organises a lecture by an eminent faculty from India and abroad. Find out about the upcoming and past lectures in this series.