Raghuram Rajan (born 3 February 1963) is an Indian economist and a professor of finance at the University of Chicago Booth School of Business. He was the 23rd Governor of the Reserve Bank of India from September 2013 to September 2016 and earlier the chief economist of the International Monetary Fund. He is famous for a 2005 speech warning that the world’s financial system was taking on dangerous risks, three years before the global financial crisis.
Quick Facts
| Full name | Raghuram Govind Rajan |
| Born | 3 February 1963, Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh, India |
| Age | 63 |
| Occupation | Economist |
| Position | Katherine Dusak Miller Distinguished Service Professor of Finance, Chicago Booth |
| Education | IIT Delhi (B.Tech. 1985); IIM Ahmedabad (PGDM 1987); MIT (Ph.D. 1991) |
| Offices | IMF Chief Economist (2003–2006); Chief Economic Adviser (2012–2013); RBI Governor (2013–2016) |
| Spouse | Radhika Puri |
| Children | 2 |
Early Life
Rajan was born in Bhopal into a Tamil family. His father, R. Govindarajan, was an officer in India’s external intelligence service, and the family lived in Indonesia, Sri Lanka and Belgium during his childhood. He studied at Delhi Public School, R. K. Puram, took a degree in electrical engineering from IIT Delhi, where he won the Director’s Gold Medal, and earned gold medals again at IIM Ahmedabad. He completed his doctorate at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1991.
Career
Rajan joined the University of Chicago in 1991 and became known for his research on banking and corporate finance. In 2003 he won the first Fischer Black Prize, given to the best finance economist under 40, and became the youngest chief economist of the IMF. At a conference in Jackson Hole in 2005 he argued that bankers’ pay encouraged them to take hidden risks that could cause a catastrophe. The paper was dismissed at the time and vindicated in 2008.
He chaired a committee on financial sector reforms in 2007–08 and was an adviser to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. In August 2012 he became Chief Economic Adviser to the Ministry of Finance.
Rajan took over the central bank during a currency crisis. He steadied the rupee, brought inflation down from about 10 per cent, moved the bank to a formal inflation target and created a monetary policy committee. He licensed new payments banks and small finance banks and ordered a review that forced banks to recognise their bad loans. He did not seek a second term and returned to Chicago; the demonetisation of high-value banknotes came two months after he left.
Books
Personal Life
Rajan is married to Radhika Puri, whom he met at IIM Ahmedabad and who teaches at the University of Chicago Law School. They have a daughter and a son.
Awards and Honours
Frequently Asked Questions
When and where was Raghuram Rajan born?
Raghuram Rajan was born on 3 February 1963 in Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh, India and is 63 years old.
What is Raghuram Rajan’s occupation?
Occupation: Economist.
Featured image: Raghuram Rajan takes charge as Chief Economic Adviser in the Ministry of Finance, New Delhi, 29 August 2012. Photo by Ministry of Finance of India, licensed under Government Open Data License – India, via Wikimedia Commons.
