Deshamanya Indrajit Coomaraswamy (, ; born 3 April 1950) is a Sri Lankan economist. He served as the 14th

Governor of the Central Bank of Sri Lanka The Governor of the Central Bank of Sri Lanka (CBSL) functions as the chief executive of the Sri Lankan central bank. The post is the ''ex-officio'' chairperson of the Monetary Board of Central Bank of Sri Lanka. Since its establishment in 1950, ...

Early life and family

Coomaraswamy was born on 3 April 1950 in

Colombo Colombo, ( ; , ; , ), is the executive and judicial capital and largest city of Sri Lanka by population. The Colombo metropolitan area is estimated to have a population of 5.6 million, and 752,993 within the municipal limits. It is the ...

Ceylon Sri Lanka, officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, also known historically as Ceylon, is an island country in South Asia. It lies in the Indian Ocean, southwest of the Bay of Bengal, separated from the Indian subcontinent, ...

. He was the son of civil servant Rajendra Coomaraswamy (Roving Raju) and Wijeyamani. His paternal grandfather C. Coomaraswamy was a civil servant and his maternal grandfather S. K. Wijeyaratnam was chairman of Negombo Urban Council. He has one sister,

Radhika Radhika may refer to: * Radha, a Hindu goddess and eternal consort of Krishna * Radhika (given name), an Indian given name * Radhika (Malayalam actress) * Radhika (choreographer), in South Indian films * Kalamandalam Radhika, Indian dancer and ...

. Coomaraswamy was educated at

Royal College, Colombo Royal College, Colombo also known as; Royal Colombo, Colombo Royal College or Colombo Royal) is a Single-sex education, boys' school located in Cinnamon Gardens, Cinnamon Gardens, Colombo, Sri Lanka. Started by Joseph Marsh (priest), Joseph Mar ...

and at

Harrow School Harrow School () is a Public school (United Kingdom), public school (English boarding school for boys) in Harrow on the Hill, Greater London, England. The school was founded in 1572 by John Lyon (school founder), John Lyon, a local landowner an ...

in England. He was captain of Royal's primary cricket team. He was captain of Harrow's cricket team from 1967 to 1968 and also played rugby for the school for three years. After school he went to

Emmanuel College, Cambridge Emmanuel College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. The college was founded in 1584 by Sir Walter Mildmay, Chancellor of the Exchequer to Elizabeth I. The site on which the college sits was once a priory for Dominican mo ...

, from where he received BA (

Hons Honours degree has various meanings in the context of different degrees and education systems. Most commonly it refers to a variant of the undergraduate bachelor's degree containing a larger volume of material or a higher standard of study, o ...

) and MA degrees. He played two matches of

first-class cricket First-class cricket, along with List A cricket and Twenty20 cricket, is one of the highest-standard forms of cricket. A first-class match is of three or more days scheduled duration between two sides of eleven players each and is officially adju ...

for

Cambridge University Cricket Club Cambridge University Cricket Club, established in 1820, is the representative cricket club for students of the University of Cambridge. The club was recognised as holding first-class cricket, first-class status until 2020. The university played ...

, one in 1971 and one in 1972. He then proceeded to the

University of Sussex The University of Sussex is a public university, public research university, research university located in Falmer, East Sussex, England. It lies mostly within the city boundaries of Brighton and Hove. Its large campus site is surrounded by the ...

from where he obtained a

DPhil A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, DPhil; or ) is a terminal degree that usually denotes the highest level of academic achievement in a given discipline and is awarded following a course of graduate study and original research. The name of the deg ...

degree. Coomaraswamy is married to Tara de Fonseka. They have two sons – Imran and Arjun. Coomaraswamy is a

Sri Lankan Tamil Sri Lankan Tamils ( or ), also known as Ceylon Tamils or Eelam Tamils, are Tamils native to the South Asian island state of Sri Lanka. Today, they constitute a majority in the Northern Province, form the plurality in the Eastern Province a ...

Career

Coomaraswamy joined the

Central Bank of Sri Lanka The Central Bank of Sri Lanka ( CBSL; ), known until 1985 as the Central Bank of Ceylon, is the central bank of Sri Lanka. It was established in 1950 under the Monetary Law Act No.58 of 1949 (MLA) and in terms of the Central Bank of Sri Lanka Ac ...

in 1973, working as a staff officer in its Economic Research, Statistics and Bank Supervision divisions until 1989. He was seconded to the Ministry of Finance and Planning between 1981 and 1989 to provide advice on

macroeconomic Macroeconomics is a branch of economics that deals with the performance, structure, behavior, and decision-making of an economy as a whole. This includes regional, national, and global economies. Macroeconomists study topics such as output/ GDP ...

issues and structural reforms. He worked at the

Commonwealth Secretariat The Commonwealth Secretariat is the main intergovernmental agency and central institution of the Commonwealth of Nations. It is responsible for facilitating co-operation between members; organising meetings, including the Commonwealth Heads of ...

from 1990 to 2008, holding various posts including Chief Officer, Economics in the International Finance and Markets Section; Director of the Economic Affairs Division; and Deputy-Director of the Secretary-General's Office. He was an advisor to Prime Minister

Ranil Wickremesinghe Ranil Wickremesinghe (; ; born 24 March 1949) is a Sri Lankan politician who served as the ninth president of Sri Lanka from 2022 to 2024. He has also served as Prime Minister of Sri Lanka from 1993–1994, 2001–2004, 2015–2018, 2018-2019 a ...

and Project Minister of Economic Reforms, Science and Technology Milinda Moragoda between 2001 and 2002. Coomaraswamy rejoined the Commonwealth Secretariat in 2010 as Interim Director of its Social Transformation Programme Division. He was special advisor to the controversial

Galleon Group The Galleon Group was one of the largest hedge fund management firms in the world, managing over $7 billion, before closing in October 2009. The firm was the epicenter of a 2009 insider trading scandal which subsequently led to its fall. The fir ...

hedge fund A hedge fund is a Pooling (resource management), pooled investment fund that holds Market liquidity, liquid assets and that makes use of complex trader (finance), trading and risk management techniques to aim to improve investment performance and ...

. He was director of a British company called Galleon Research Services Limited, a wholly owned subsidiary of Galleon International Management LLC. He was appointed as a non-executive director of

John Keells Holdings John Keells Holdings PLC (JKH) is a Sri Lankan multinational conglomerate (company), conglomerate company. It has business interests in hotels and resorts management, port, marine fuel and logistics services, IT services, manufacturing of food a ...

PLC in February 2011. He was appointed as a director of Tokyo Cement Group in March 2011. He worked briefly for

Hatton National Bank Hatton National Bank PLC (commonly abbreviated as HNB) is a private bank in Sri Lanka with 255 branches and 825 ATMs. The bank traces its origin to 1888 when Hatton Bank commenced its operations in Hatton, Sri Lanka Hatton (, ) is a major to ...

and was a director of SEEDS (Guarantee) Limited. He was a member of the

University of Sri Jayewardenepura The University of Sri Jayewardenepura (also known as Jayawardhanapura University or USJ; , ) is a public university in Sri Lanka. It is in Gangodawila, Nugegoda, near Sri Jayewardenepura Kotte, the country's administrative capital. It was form ...

's Board of Study (Public Administration) and a director of Nawaloka College of Higher Studies. He was later a senior advisor to Minister of Development Strategies and International Trade

Malik Samarawickrama Malik Devapriya Samarawickrama (born 19 March 1949) is a Sri Lankan entrepreneur and politician. He was appointed to Parliament as a National List Member of Parliament, national list member in 2015. He is a former Minister of Development Strategie ...

. Coomaraswamy was appointed

in July 2016, replacing Arjuna Mahendran whose tenure was mired by allegations of corruption. He resigned from the position in December 2019.

Sports career

Coomaraswamy played rugby for Ceylonese Rugby & Football Club and captained the

national team A national sports team (commonly known as a national team or a national side) is a team that represents a nation, rather than a particular club or region, in an international sport. The term is most commonly associated with team sports, for exa ...

in the 1974 Rugby Asiad. He also played cricket for the

Tamil Union Cricket and Athletic Club Tamil Union Cricket & Athletic Club is a first-class cricket team based in Colombo, Sri Lanka. They play their home games at P. Saravanamuttu Stadium. History The club can trace its roots back to the final years of the 19th century in which t ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Coomaraswamy, Indrajit 1950 births Living people Alumni of Emmanuel College, Cambridge Alumni of Royal College, Colombo Alumni of the University of Sussex Cambridge University cricketers English people of Sri Lankan Tamil descent Governors of the Central Bank of Sri Lanka People educated at Harrow School People from Colombo Sri Lankan cricketers Sri Lankan rugby union players Sri Lankan Tamil people Sri Lankan bankers Sri Lankan economists