Raghuram Rajan

Raghuram Rajan is an Indian economist and the former Governor of the Reserve Bank of India, who is currently the Vice-Chairman of the Bank for International Settlements. He served as the 23rd Governor of the Reserve Bank of India and his three year tenure is known for bringing the bleeding rupee back to strength and for battering down the inflation fangs to 6 per cent from double-digit levels. After a glorious career as an academician at the Booth School of Business, he was hired by the International Monetary Fund as its Chief Economist. Always a high-achiever, Rajan completed his schooling from some of the best educational institutions in the country and abroad. An alumnus of IIT-Delhi and IIM-A, Rajan's thesis 'Essays on Banking' earned him a Ph.D. in management from MIT Sloan School of Management. He is always known to be a pragmatist, which is reflected in his various papers especially the controversial piece of writing ‘Has Financial Development Made the World Riskier?’. Though initially ridiculed, Raghuram was later commended for predicting the US economic crisis of 2008 beforehand. His straight forward and practical approach has been instrumental in battling the inflation which plagued the nation when he assumed the role of RBI Governor. A member of the Group of Thirty, Rajan is a crusader of the free market system. In his book ‘Saving Capitalism from the Capitalists’ he has suggested that capitalism serves as a handy tool to abate poverty and provides equal opportunities for all.

Career

• Rajan embarked on an academic career as an assistant professor at the ‘Booth School of Business’ which is affiliated with the ‘University of Chicago’. During his tenure he was invited to deliver guest lectures at many reputed institutions such as the ‘Stockholm School of Economics’ and ‘Kellogg School’.
• His prowess as an economist was proved when he was appointed as the IMF Economic Counsellor and Director of Research during 2003-2006. Also in 2003, he penned the book ‘Saving Capitalism from the Capitalists: Unleashing the Power of Financial Markets to Create Wealth and Spread Opportunity’ in collaboration with Luigi Zingales.
• Rajan put forth his analysis of the global economies in 2005 in a paper titled ‘Has Financial Development Made the World Riskier?’ The paper attracted much criticism at the time but the eventual downturn in the international markets made many concur with his views.
• Rajan then returned to teaching in 2007 for a short while before he was offered the position of an honorary economic adviser by the then Indian Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh, in November the following year. He was at the helm of financial reforms committee formed by Indian Government’s Planning Commission.
• His article on minimizing the boom-bust financial cycles, which occur as a result of financial liberalization, appeared in the ‘The Economist’, in 2009.
• In 2010, this prodigal economist authored ‘Fault Lines: How Hidden Fractures Still Threaten the World Economy’. The book was well received by audiences and critics alike and was also named as the best business book of the year by Financial Times.
• Raghuram is also a member of several prestigious organizations which include the ‘Group of Thirty’ and ‘American Academy of Arts and Sciences’. During the year 2011, he presided over the ‘American Academy of Arts and Sciences’.
• The following year saw another appointment in the Indian Government when he was named as successor of Kaushik Basu, the outgoing Chief Economic Adviser to the Government of India. In this capacity, he was assigned the task of conducting the Economic Survey for India 2012-13.
• On September 5, 2013 he assumed office of the Governor of Reserve Bank of India, the central bank of India. His appointment made him one of the youngest ever to hold the position, after Manmohan Singh. Ever since joining office, the pragmatist financial expert has been dedicated towards bringing down inflation in the country.
• Rajan's three year tenure as RBI Governor is known for bringing the bleeding rupee back to strength and for battering down the inflation fangs to 6 per cent from double-digit levels. He demited the office of the Governor of RBI on 4 September 2016.
• He is currently serving as the Vice-Chairman of the Bank for International Settlements.

Major Works

• Rajan has made immense contribution to the field of economics, the greatest being his prediction of the economic turmoil in the US. Though he was ridiculed as a ‘Luddite’ initially but the ensuing economic crisis in the US and then Europe during 2008-2012, cemented his position among some of the greatest economists of our times.
• Rajan's three year tenure as RBI Governor is known for bringing the bleeding rupee back to strength and for battering down the inflation fangs to 6 per cent from double-digit levels. He demitted the office of the Governor of RBI on 4 September 2016.

Awards & Achievements

• The ‘American Finance Association’ conferred upon Rajan the ‘Fischer Black Prize’ in 2003. The award is presented to economists under the age of 40 for their outstanding contribution to the world of finance.
• He won the fifth ‘Deutsche Bank Prize for Financial Economics 2013’ for the "ground-breaking research work which influenced financial and macro-economic policies around the world".