Chakravarthi Rangarajan (born 1932) is an Indian economist, a former Member of Parliament and 19th Governor of the

Reserve Bank of India The Reserve Bank of India, chiefly known as RBI, is India's central bank and regulatory body responsible for regulation of the Indian banking system. It is under the ownership of Ministry of Finance, Government of India. It is responsible for ...

. He is the former Chairman of the Prime Minister's

Economic Advisory Council Economic Advisory Council to the Prime Minister of India (PMEAC) is a non-constitutional, non-permanent and independent body constituted to give economic advice to the Government of India, specifically the Prime Minister. The council serves to ...

, he resigned the day the UPA lost power. He is also the Chairman of the Madras School of Economics; former President of the

Indian Statistical Institute Indian Statistical Institute (ISI) is a higher education and research institute which is recognized as an Institute of National Importance by the 1959 act of the Indian parliament. It grew out of the Statistical Laboratory set up by Prasanta C ...

; the Founding Chairman of the CR Rao Advanced Institute of Mathematics, Statistics and Computer Science; former Chancellor of the University of Hyderabad; and a professor in

Ahmedabad University Ahmedabad University is a private, non-profit university in Gujarat, India, set up in 2009 by the Ahmedabad Education Society. It comprises three schools and seven centres with opportunities for interdisciplinary scholarship. Ahmedabad Universit ...

Early life

Rangarajan, a student of National College (

Tiruchirappalli Tiruchirappalli () ( formerly Trichinopoly in English), also called Tiruchi or Trichy, is a major tier II city in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu and the administrative headquarters of Tiruchirappalli district. The city is credited with bein ...

) between 1947 and 1949, graduated from Loyola College of the University of Madras in the commerce stream (where he was a contemporary of the

Yale University Yale University is a private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. Established in 1701 as the Collegiate School, it is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and among the most prestigious in the wo ...

economics professor

T N Srinivasan T. N. Srinivasan, in full Thirukodikaval Nilakanta Srinivasan (27 March 1933 – 11 November 2018), was an Indian economist who had taught and worked in the United States. He was the Emeritus Samuel C. Park, Jr. Professor of Economics at Yale Un ...

). He later received his PhD in economics from the

University of Pennsylvania The University of Pennsylvania (also known as Penn or UPenn) is a private research university in Philadelphia. It is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and is ranked among the highest-regarded universitie ...

in 1964. His thesis was titled "Variability of Demand Deposits".

Career

Rangarajan taught at several institutions including the

and the Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad (IIM-A). He was a well known teacher of economics at IIMA for the postgraduate and the doctoral courses. His textbook on macro economics was used in business management schools. He was awarded the title of Honorary Fellow of IIM-A in 1997. He served as a Deputy Governor of the Reserve Bank of India from 1982 to 1991, after which he served as the Governor of the

between 22 December 1992 and 21 December 1997. He served as the Governor of Andhra Pradesh from 24 November 1997 to 3 January 2003. After demitting that office, he took charge as the chairman of the Twelfth Finance Commission. While serving as the governor of Andhra Pradesh, he received additional charges as governor of

Odisha Odisha (English: , ), formerly Orissa ( the official name until 2011), is an Indian state located in Eastern India. It is the 8th largest state by area, and the 11th largest by population. The state has the third largest population of ...

from 1998 to 1999, and as governor of

Tamil Nadu Tamil Nadu (; , TN) is a States and union territories of India, state in southern India. It is the List of states and union territories of India by area, tenth largest Indian state by area and the List of states and union territories of India ...

from 2001 to 2002. In 2002, the

Government of India The Government of India (ISO: ; often abbreviated as GoI), known as the Union Government or Central Government but often simply as the Centre, is the national government of the Republic of India, a federal democracy located in South Asia, c ...

awarded him the Padma Vibhushan, India's second highest civilian award. From 2005 to 2008, he was the chairman of the Prime Minister's Economic Advisory Council. In August 2008, he resigned as chairman of the Council and was nominated as a member of the Rajya Sabha. He resigned from the Rajya Sabha in August 2009 and was re-appointed chairman of the Prime Minister's Economic Advisory Council. He resigned from the Council on 19 May 2014, when the UPA government was voted out of power. Since then, he has been the chairman of the Madras School of Economics and has been writing and publishing on issues pertaining to the economy. In May 2020, the Tamil Nadu government formed a high-level committee, chaired by Rangarajan, to advise the government on the medium-term response after the COVID-19 lockdown period. The committee submitted its report in September 2020, recommending an urban jobs guarantee program, similar to the state's rural one, and expressing optimism about the economy's ability to rebound in two months' time.

References

External links

A brief note on C. Rangarajan

{{DEFAULTSORT:Rangarajan, Chakravarthi 20th-century Indian economists Tamil scholars Governors of the Reserve Bank of India Recipients of the Padma Vibhushan in literature & education Indian bankers Governors of Andhra Pradesh Governors of Odisha Governors of Tamil Nadu Living people Indian Institute of Management Ahmedabad faculty 1932 births Loyola College, Chennai alumni University of Pennsylvania alumni Nominated members of the Rajya Sabha University of Madras alumni National College, Tiruchirappalli alumni Reserve Bank of India