Just a Mercenary?

At the start of his career as sub-collector of Parvathipuram sub-division in north-coastal Andhra Pradesh way back in 1974, Subbarao learnt—the hard way—that tribal development requires more than enthusiasm; it requires, most of all, an understanding of poverty. Nearly forty years later, in 2013, as the governor of the Reserve Bank of India in the midst of a fierce exchange rate crisis, Subbarao learnt—once again the hard way—the harsh challenges of emerging economies in an unequal world. Bookended by these assignments is the remarkable journey of a small-town boy from a modest background to the top echelons of India’s civil service and then on to the helm of the country’s central bank. Subbarao recounts that journey—his hopes and despair, his successes and setbacks, his mistakes and misdeeds, and the lessons he learnt along the way—with rare candour and honesty. The subtext of that story though is his constant soul searching about whether he has given back to society more than he received.