Rockstar Rajan, the career story of RBI Governor

Want to stand out of the ordinary? Do you look forward to advise the nation on financial matters as this man does?

Here is a post that will enlighten you on the career story of RBI governor. Keep reading to know how a boy from an average family made his way through as a financial advisor of the nation.

The Indian Economist born on February 3, 1963 in the city of Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh, Raghuram Govind Rajan is among those few Indian economists who predicted the US Economic crisis of 2008. Having been tagged as the ‘Financial Prophet’ or ‘Rockstar Rajan’ in the same breath since then, the career story of RBI governor Raghuram Rajan goes back to his school days in Delhi Public School, R.K. Puram. When asked about his strong drive for success in life, “I want to be the Prime Minister of India” he said.

Initially, Rajan had trouble deciding his career path but eventually he decided to pursue Engineering and that too only from the IITs. Rajan cleared the IIT entrance at the first try and there was no looking back from there-on.

After completing his graduation in Electrical engineering from IIT-Delhi in 1987, Rajan went on to study at the coveted IIM-Ahmedabad. He completed his Post-Graduate diploma in Business Administration with flying colors and even earned the distinction of winning the gold medal. He received his Ph.D. in Economics from Masachusetts Institute of Technology in 1991. There he wrote a thesis entitled ‘Essays on Banking’.

Rajan embarked on an academic career as an Assistant Professor at the ‘Booth School of Business’ which is affiliated to the University of Chicago. He was also appointed as a visiting professor at Kellogg School in the Northwestern University and the Stockholm School of Economics in 1996. His prowess as an economist was proved when he was appointed as the IMF Economic Counselor and the Director of Research during 2003-2006.

Amidst these, the career story of RBI governor took many turns,the entire economy of the world was shaken by his controversial paper in 2005 entitled “Has financial development made the world riskier?” In the same year for his contribution to the theory and practice of finance at such an early age, the American Finance Association honored the RBI governor with “The Fischer Black Prize”. His most widely-read book, ‘Saving Capitalism from Capitalist’ unleashed the power of financial markets to create wealth and opportunity. As a part of his research on the documentary, ‘Inside Job’, this famous economist was interviewed where he stated, “I don’t quite recall my ambition of being PM, but I do know that today my ambitions are far more realistic.” The foreign policy magazine named Rajan in the list of top global thinkers in the year 2010. In the same year his book “Fault lines: how hidden cracks still threaten the world economy” was awarded The Financial Times Business Book of the year award. Subsequently, he was appointed as the chairperson of the Indian Government’s committee on the financial sector reforms in 2008.

Aged 52, this high profile RBI Governor not only keeps his job under new regime but commands respect from his fan across the globe. RBI has seen many governors but perhaps none like him who speaks his mind with the courage of conviction. What he says-or does not say- not only moves stock prices on the Dalal Street but also on the Wall Street. He is not only an Indian icon, but a global one.

To conclude, the governor of the Reserve Bank of India who is also an author of the two best-selling books. He is extremely personable.

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