The volume covers a wide spectrum of topics ranging from monetary policy and financial stability to globalisation and economic growth and social development. The essay on "Financial Stability"
though written much before the current crisis, had anticipated many of the issues that are being debated today. The essay on "Monetary Policy" argues that maintaining price stability should be
the dominant objective of monetary policy. The essay on "Globalisation" points out that India should seek to wrest maximum advantages from globalisation by identifying the comparative
advantages that India possesses. In the essay "Economic Growth and Social Development", the author pleads for an approach that weaves equity and efficiency into a coherent pattern of growth.
Economic growth and social development are the two legs on which a nation should walk. Ignoring any one leg will only mean that the nation will limp along.
The book is divided into four sections: Monetary Policy and Fiscal Issues; Growth and Development; Sectoral Issues - Industry, Power, Banking and Agriculture; and External Sector and
Globalisation. The book contains in all 25 essays and should interest a wide cross section of audience.
Dr. Chakravarthi Rangarajan, a distinguished economist. has been a cerebral policy maker of India who brought to bear not only deep scholarship but lateral thinking on the formulation of public
policy. He is presently a member of the Rajya Sabha, the upper house of Indian parliament.
Dr. Rangarajan has held several important positions in the Government. He was Chairman-Economic Advisory Council to the Prime Minister (2004-2008) and headed the Twelfth Finance Commission
(2003-04) which paved the way for fiscal consolidation. He was Governor, Andhra Pradesh (1997-2003) and Governor, Reserve Bank of India (1992-1997).
As Governor RBI, Dr. Rangarajan gave a major thrust to financial sector reforms. The institutional environment was altered to make monetary policy a more effective instrument of economic
policy. The exchange rate regime underwent a fundamental change.
He was member of the Planning Commission during 1991-92. Prior to that, he held the position of Deputy Governor, Reserve Bank of India, for almost a decade. During this period, he was
instrumental in bringing about a number of changes in the credit and financial system, both in terms of induction of new instruments and new institutions.
Dr. Rangarajan has taught at the Wharton School of Finance and Commerce, University of Pennsylvania and the Graduate School of Business Administration, New York University. In India, he has
taught at Loyola College, Madras; Indian Statistical Institute, New Delhi and for well over a decade and a half at the Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad.
He is the author or co-author of the following books: Short-term Investment Forecasting (1974); Principles of Macroeconomics (1979); Strategy for Industrial Development in the '80s (1981);
Innovations in Banking (1982); Indian Economy: Essays on Money and Finance (1998); Perspectives on Indian Economy (2000); Structural Reforms in Industry, Banking and Finance (2000) and Select
Essays on Indian Economy (2 vols., 2004).
Among the several awards received by him are: Business Man of the Year 1997 (Madras Management Association); Honorary Fellow, Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad 1997; Award of Excellence
in Finance (Bank of India) 1998; Finance Man of the Decade (Bombay Management Association) 1998; Financial Express Award for Economics 1998; Wharton-Indian Alumni Award for Outstanding
Leadership (2002).
Dr. Rangarajan was awarded the Padma Vibhushan, the second highest civilian honour, by the President of India in January 2002.
