Shankar Acharya

BA PPE 1964
Economist

Dr Shankar Acharya is one of India’s leading policy economists. In the 1990s he was a key figure in transforming a country struggling with its economy into a major global player. He modestly describes his contribution as being “just part of the team”, but others regard him as integral to India’s ascendency in the ranks of world-leading economies.

He graduated with First Class honours in PPE 1967, before proceeding to Harvard University to earn his PhD in Economics in 1972. He worked for the World Bank (1971–1982 and 1990–1993), and returned to India in 1982 as Senior Fellow, National Institute of Public Finance and Policy (NIPFP), before joining the Government as Economic Adviser, Ministry of Finance (1985–90).

Since 2001 he has been Honorary Professor at the Indian Council for Research on International Economic Relations (ICRIER). He has authored nine books (mostly on Indian economic issues and policies) and numerous scholarly articles in academic journals.

He was the Senior Visiting Research Fellow at Merton College in 2000 and Stanford University in 2002. Since 2003 he has been a regular columnist for the Business Standard, one of India’s leading financial dailies.

He tries to return to the UK every year, primarily to see his old Keble colleagues, including the philosopher, poet and clinical neuroscientist, Professor Raymond Tallis and eminent paediatric neurologist, Dr Christopher Verity.

“The greatest gift Keble gave me apart from the teaching were my friends and my wife, Gayatri Dasgupta (LMH). Last year we celebrated our 50th wedding anniversary.”