Shankkar Aiyer

Shankkar Aiyar is a prominent India-based political economy analyst, columnist andauthor. His path-breaking book Accidental India fetched him acclaim as a publicintellectual. A journalist for over three decades, Aiyar has covered every parliamentaryelection since 1984. His 1991 scoop on India pledging its gold reserves drew worldattention to the crisis in the economy which consequently compelled liberalisation. Aiyarhas analysed every Budget since liberalization. As a columnist Aiyar specializes in theinterface of politics and economics. He has authored a study on India's socio-economicfault lines and its hundred worst districts. His investigation on twenty-five years ofpolitical corruption is part of an anthology. He has been a Wolfson Chevening Fellow atCambridge University where he studied the lifecycles of emerging economies. Aiyar is aVisiting Fellow at the IDFC Institute.