Prof. Rupa Chanda
Professor Rupa Chanda is taking Voluntary Retirement from the services of IIM Bangalore on 28 August 2023 after a service of over 26 years. Before joining IIMB, she was an Economist at the IMF in Washington DC. During her current EOL from September -2021, Prof. Chanda has been serving as Director of the Trade, Investment, and Innovation Division (TIID) at the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (UNESCAP), Bangkok.
Prof. Chanda obtained her PhD, MPhil and MA from Columbia University and BA in Economics from Harvard University. Her research interests include the WTO, international trade in services, regional integration, and migration. She received several research grants, including from the British High Commission, the British Council, the European Commission, and Govt of India’s Ministry of Finance and Ministry of Commerce. She has published widely in the areas of services trade, globalization of health, the WTO, Free Trade Agreements, and mobility, and has authored two seminal books on services in India and South Asia, and co-authored/edited several other books in her field.
Prof. Chanda has professionally engaged with international organizations such as the WTO, World Bank, WHO, UNDP, ADB, ILO, OECD, South Centre, and the Petersen Institute for International Economics, among others, and with Indian policy organizations/think tanks such as ICRIER, CUTS, NCAER, and IIFT. She is a recognized expert in services trade and has represented the Government of India in various international forums. While at IIMB, her contributions to trade policy have featured in India’s multilateral and bilateral trade negotiations and position papers. She has been a member of various committees of the Government of India and Indian industry chambers. She was selected by the WHO as an international expert for its International Health Regulations Review Committee. In her current capacity as a Director at UN ESCAP, Prof. Chanda has been steering the UN’s work on issues such as trade policy and facilitation, FDI, and sustainable business in the Asia-Pacific region, and has been leading the UN delegation on Trade and Investment for the Indian G20 Presidency.
At IIMB, Prof. Chanda taught courses in Macroeconomics, International Trade, Managerial Economics and modules on Trade, Investment, and Industry in courses on Current Economic Scenario and Globalization. Prof. Chanda is a highly regarded teacher and has received awards for teaching including the Dewang Mehta Award for Best Economics Teacher, the ICFAI Best Teacher Award from the Association of Indian Management Schools and the Alumni Award for Best Faculty at IIMB. During her tenure at IIMB, she has guided 15 PhD students as DAC Chair, which is the highest number by an individual faculty in the history of IIMB. She served as RBI Chair Professor at IIMB from 2017-21.
Besides exemplary performance in teaching and research, her contributions to institutional service have been outstanding. At IIMB, she held several senior administrative positions. Major ones include Member – BoG, Member – FDEC, Chairperson- ESS Area for three terms, and Chair -Internal Committee among others. She served as Dean-Programmes for four months before proceeding on EOL in September -2021.