Dr. Ajit Ranade is Senior President and Chief Economist with the 41billion US$ dollar Aditya Birla Group, which is an Indian Multinational company with operations in more than 36 countries with head office in Mumbai. Birla Group businesses include metals, mining, chemicals, textiles, cement as well as telecom, retail, insurance and asset management. Ranade was earlier with ABN Amro Bank. He has been Member of the Capital Convertibility Committee of the Reserve Bank of India. He was a Member of the Governing Council of the Banking Codes and Supervisory Board of India. He is the Member of the National Executive Committee of the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry and a Member of the Economic Policy Council of the Confederation of Indian Industry. He is Chair of the Research Advisory Panel of the Indian Institute of Banking and Finance. He is an engineer and MBA and received a PhD in Economics from Brown University, USA. He received the Distinguished Alumnus Award from IIT Bombay in 2009, Scholar of the Year Award from Wadia Trust in 2010, and Ramchandra Parnerkar Economics Award in 2012. He writes regularly in newspapers on economic, social and political topics.