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

Reserve Bank of India Reserve Bank of India, abbreviated as RBI, is the central bank of the Republic of India, and regulatory body responsible for regulation of the Indian banking system and Indian rupee, Indian currency. Owned by the Ministry of Finance (India), Min ...

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

Economic Advisory Council Economic Advisory Council to the Prime Minister (EAC-PM) 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 highlig ...

; 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 The Indian Statistical Institute (ISI) is a public research university headquartered in Kolkata, India with centers in New Delhi, Bengaluru, Chennai and Tezpur. It was declared an Institute of National Importance by the Government of India und ...

; 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.

Early life

Rangarajan, a student of National College (

Tiruchirappalli Tiruchirappalli (), also known as 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 being the best livable and the cleanest city of T ...

) between 1947 and 1949, graduated from Loyola College of the

University of Madras The University of Madras is a public university, public State university (India), state university in Chennai (Madras), Tamil Nadu, India. Established in 1857, it is one of the oldest and most prominent universities in India, incorporated by an ...

in the commerce stream (where he was a contemporary of the

Yale University Yale University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in New Haven, Connecticut, United States. Founded in 1701, Yale is the List of Colonial Colleges, third-oldest institution of higher education in the United Stat ...

economics professor T N Srinivasan). He later received his PhD in economics from the

University of Pennsylvania The University of Pennsylvania (Penn or UPenn) is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. One of nine colonial colleges, it was chartered in 1755 through the efforts of f ...

in 1964. His thesis was titled "Variability of Demand Deposits. He is a native of Vaduvur a tiny village near Thanjavur

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 (), formerly Orissa (List of renamed places in India, the official name until 2011), is a States and union territories of India, state located in East India, Eastern India. It is the List of states and union territories of India by ar ...

from 1998 to 1999, and as governor of

Tamil Nadu Tamil Nadu (; , TN) is the southernmost States and union territories of India, state of India. 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 Indi ...

from 2001 to 2002. In 2002, the

Government of India The Government of India (ISO 15919, ISO: Bhārata Sarakāra, legally the Union Government or Union of India or the Central Government) is the national authority of the Republic of India, located in South Asia, consisting of States and union t ...

awarded him the

Padma Vibhushan The Padma Vibhushan ( , lit. "Lotus Grandeur") is the second-highest civilian award of the Republic of India, after the Bharat Ratna. Instituted on 2 January 1954, the award is given for "exceptional and distinguished service". All persons w ...

, 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 Academic staff of the Indian Institute of Management Ahmedabad 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