Deepak Nayyar (born 26 September 1946) is an Indian economist and an academic. He is currently Chair of the Board of Trustees, Institute for Development Studies, Sussex, United Kingdom (since August 2020); Emeritus Professor of Economics, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi; Honorary Fellow of Balliol College, Oxford; and Distinguished Fellow, Centre for the Study of Developing Societies, New Delhi. Earlier, he taught at the University of Oxford, the University of Sussex, the Indian Institute of Management Calcutta (IIM-C). He also served as Vice-Chancellor, University of Delhi.
Nayyar was Distinguished University Professor of Economics, New School for Social Research, New York. He was invited to the Kluge Chair in Countries and Cultures of the South at the United States Library of Congress in Washington DC for 2022-23. Nayyar’s professional life in academia has been interspersed with time in the world of public policy and in government.
Before turning to academics, Nayyar was a Member of the Indian Administrative Service (IAS), and worked in the State of Uttar Pradesh (1969 to 1973). Later, he served as Economic Adviser to the Ministry of Commerce in the Government of India (1983 to 1985) and, subsequently, as Chief Economic Adviser to the Government of India and Secretary, Ministry of Finance, New Delhi (1989 to 1991).
Early life and education Nayyar’s schooling began in Shimla, “followed by eight years in Hindi-medium schools at different places in provincial India. He completed it at St Xavier’s School, Jaipur, where Father Extross was his mentor for the next stage of his journey in life”. He went on to complete a Bachelor of Arts (BA) Honors in Economics in 1965 and Master of Arts (MA) in Economics in 1967, from St. Stephen's College, University of Delhi. Bagging the coveted Rhodes Scholarship, he went on to study at Balliol College, University of Oxford, where he obtained a Bachelor of Philosophy (B.Phil.) in Economics in 1969 and a Doctor of Philosophy (D. Phil) in 1973. His D.Phil thesis was on ‘India’s Exports and Export Policies in the 1960s’ completed under the supervision of Paul Streeten.
Career Nayyar has the unique distinction of having had a career that includes academia, government service, and corporate boards. His illustrious career has also been marked by his presence in several commissions and committees of the Government of India, committees for review and evaluation of several institutions of higher learning and universities, and editorial board of several academic journals.
Academia
Nayyar served as a Research Fellow, Queen Elizabeth House, University of Oxford, from 1972 to 1973 and as a Lecturer in Economics at the University of Sussex between 1973 and 1980. Thereafter, he became Professor of Economics at the Indian Institute of Management (IIM), Calcutta, till 1983. He was Professor of Economics (and Chairman 1987-1989) at the Centre for Economic Studies and Planning (CESP), Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU), New Delhi, from 1986 to 1989; 1992 to 2000; and 2005 to 2011. He served as Vice-Chancellor, University of Delhi from May 2000 to May 2005. He was Distinguished University Professor of Economics, New School for Social Research, New York, from 2008 to 2012.
Institutional Affiliations – Indian
Nayyar is currently Chairman (2005 onwards) and Trustee (from 1992), Sameeksha Trust, Mumbai, which publishes Economic & Political Weekly (EPW); Chairman (2013 onwards) and Trustee (2002 to 2012), Nehru Trust for Cambridge University; Chairman, Indian National Trust for Education and Development, New Delhi (2014 onwards); Chairman, Board of Governors (2014 onwards) and Member of the Board (2012 to 2014), Centre for the Study of Developing Societies (CSDS), New Delhi; Chairman, Board of Governors, Institute for Human Development, New Delhi (2023 onwards); and Emeritus Professor of Economics, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi (since 2012).
He was also President, Indian Society for Labour Economics (2015 to 2025); and Member of the Governing Council and the Executive Committee, Indian National Trust for Art and Cultural Heritage (2016 to 2025);
Institutional Affiliations – International
Currently, Nayyar is the Chairman, Board of Trustees, Institute for Development Studies, Sussex (since August 2020). He served as Chairman of the Board of Governors of the World Institute for Development Economics Research (UNU-WIDER), Helsinki (2001 to 2008); Chairman of the Advisory Council (2004 to 2007) and Member (2001 to 2004), Department of International Development, Queen Elizabeth House, University of Oxford; Member of the Board of Directors, Social Science Research Council, New York (2001 to 2007); Member of the Administrative Board and Vice President, International Association of Universities, Paris (2004 to 2008); Vice Chairman (2011 to 2014) and Member (2005 to 2011) of the Board, South Centre, Geneva; Visiting Professor, Sciences-Po, Paris (May–June 2008); and Member of the World Commission on the Social Dimensions of Globalization established by the International Labour Organisation (ILO) (2002 to 2004).
Services in Government
Nayyar became a Member of the Indian Administrative Service (IAS), Government of India in 1969 which he left in 1973. He served as the Economic Adviser to the Government of India, Ministry of Commerce, New Delhi from 1983 to 1985; and then as the Chief Economic Adviser (CEA) to the Government of India and Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Finance, New Delhi, from 1989 to 1991.
Committees and Commissions - India
Nayyar was the Chairman of Review Committee, Indian Council for Social Science Research, New Delhi (2011); Member of the National Knowledge Commission, India (2005 to 2009); Member, Apex Committee, Commonwealth Games 2010, New Delhi (2006 to 2008); Member of the Pay Commission for the Public Sector, Government of India (1996-1998); Member of the Governing Council for Indian Council of Social Science Research, New Delhi (1993 to 1996); Member of the Technology, Information, Forecasting and Assessment Council, Government of India (1987 to 1993); Member of the Review Committee for the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research India (1986); Chairman of the Committee on Export Processing Zones, Government of India (1985); Member of the Expert Committee on the Textile Industry, Government of India (1985) and of the Committee to Review the Implementation of Textile Policy, Government of India (1989); and Member-Secretary of the Committee on Trade Policies Government of India (1984).
Committees and Commissions – International
Nayyar was a Member of Evaluation Committee, Institute of Social Studies, The Hague (2012); Chairman of the Working Groups on Labour Mobility and Construction and Engineering Services for the Group of Negotiations on Services, Uruguay Round of Multilateral Trade Negotiations, Geneva (1989 to 1990); and Member of the North-South Roundtable on Trade (1986 to 1989).
Corporate Boards
Nayyar has also served as the member of Board of Directors of several companies: Press Trust of India (2015 onwards), Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (2011 to 2014), Steel Authority of India Limited (2006 to 2009, 2010 to 2013), ICRA (2002 to 2014), Maruti Udyog (1990 and 1991), Export-Import Bank of India (1990 and 1991), State Bank of India (1987 to 1990), State Trading Corporation of India (1983 to 1985), Jute Corporation of India (1983 to 1985), and Cotton Corporation of India (1983 to 1985).
Awards and honours Nayyar has been invited to the Kluge Chair in Countries and Cultures of the South at the United States Library of Congress in Washington DC for 2022-23. He was bestowed with the coveted Malcolm Adiseshiah Award in 2019 recognising his Lifetime Contribution to Development Studies. He was awarded the Order of Merit of the Italian Republic, L’Onorificenza di Cavaliere, conferred by the President of Italy in 2007, and received the VKRV Rao Award in 1989 for his contribution to research in Economics. He was a Rhodes Scholar from India at Oxford (1967 to 1969). He was President of Indian Economic Association in 1995.
In his honour, Ananya Ghosh Dastidar, Rajeev Malhotra and Vivek Suneja edited a book titled Economic Theory and Policy amidst Global Discontent, Essays in Honor of Deepak Nayyar, published by Routledge, London, in 2018. Eminent economists from across the globe had contributed to this volume.
Publications Source:
A. Books - Authored
Resurgent Asia: Diversity in Development, Oxford University Press, Oxford, 2019, Paperback Edition, 2023. Employment, Growth and Development, Routledge, London and New York, 2017. Catch Up: Developing Countries in the World Economy, Oxford University Press, Oxford and New York, 2013, Paperback Edition, 2016. Liberalization and Development, Oxford University Press, Delhi, 2008, Paperback Edition, 2012. Trade and Globalization, Oxford University Press, Delhi, 2008, Paperback Edition, 2012. Stability with Growth: Macroeconomics, Liberalization and Development, co-authors Joseph Stiglitz, Jose Antonio Ocampo, Shari Spiegel and Ricardo French Davis, Oxford University Press, Oxford, 2006. The Intelligent Person's Guide to Liberalization, co-author Amit Bhaduri, Penguin Books, 1996. Economic Liberalization in India: Analytics, Experience and Lessons, Orient Longman, Calcutta, 1995. Migration, Remittances and Capital Flows: The Indian Experience, Oxford University Press, Delhi, 1994. India's Exports and Export Policies in the 1960s, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 1976, Paperback Edition, 2008.
B. Books - Edited
Asian Transformations: An Inquiry into the Development of Nations, Oxford University Press, Oxford, 2019. Macroeconomics and Human Development, Taylor and Francis, London, 2013. Governing Globalization: Issues and Institutions, Oxford University Press, Oxford, 2002 Economics as Ideology and Experience, Frank Cass, London, 1998. Trade and Industrialization, Oxford University Press, Delhi, 1997. Industrial Growth and Stagnation: The Debate in India, Oxford University Press, Bombay, 1994. Economic Relations between Socialist Countries and the Third World, Macmillan, London, 1977.
C. Articles in Journals
"A World Order in Crisis and Transition: Contemplating Its Future", Economic and Political Weekly, 4 January 2025 and Brazilian Journal of Political Economy, April–June 2025. “Made in India: Industrial Policy in a Changing World”, co-author Gaurav Nayyar, Journal of Industry Competition and Trade, 24:13, May 2024. “Economic Policies for Human Development: A Neglected Domain”, Journal of Human Development and Capabilities, November 2023. “Economic and Social Policies for Human Development”, co-author Rajeev Malhotra, Journal of Human Development and Capabilities, November 2023. “Industrialization in Developing Asia since 1970: Why Technology, Leaning and Innovation Matter”, Innovation and Development, October 2021. “The Coronavirus Pandemic: India in Global Perspective, co-author Ramesh Thakur, The Asia Pacific Journal, January 2021. “Lives, Livelihoods and the Economy: India in Pandemic Times”, Indian Journal of Labour Economics, July 2020. “The Future of Globalization: Learning from History”, Economic and Political Weekly, November 2019. "Economic Liberalization in India: Then and Now", Economic and Political Weekly, 14 January 2017, pp. 41–48, reprinted in Quarter Century of Liberalization in India, Oxford University Press, New Delhi, 2018. “BRICS, Developing Countries and Global Governance”, Third World Quarterly, April 2016. “Birth, Life and Death of Development Finance Institutions in India”, Economic and Political Weekly, 15 August 2015. “Globalization and Democracy”, Brazilian Journal of Political Economy, July–September 2015, and Economic and Political Weekly, 9 May 2015. "Globalization and Employment", Indian Journal of Labour Economics, January–March 2015.