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Hyderabad: Dr Krishnamurthy Venkata Subramanian, Professor of Finance at ISB and former Chief Economic Adviser to the Government of India, was conferred with the Distinguished Alumnus Award of 2021 by the Indian Institute of Management, Calcutta, on November 15 at its Joka campus. 

Subramaniam, a 34th batch alumnus of the postgraduate program at IIM Calcutta, expressed his gratitude: "Grateful to receive the Distinguished Alumnus award from my Alma Mater Indian Institute of Management Calcutta. Among so many people doing great work, to get recognised just fills me with gratitude."

At the acceptance ceremony, Subramanian thanked the institute for "teaching me the ability to think from the first principle and applying them to the country's economic recovery after Covid."

Quoting Tamil poet Thyagaraja, Professor Subramanian expressed his thanks and gratitude for the award on his social media posts. 

Recognising the crucial role played by him during his tenure at the important public office held by him till recently, the IIM Calcutta cites: "Dr Subramanian's seminal public policy contributions have manifested amidst the once-in-a-century crisis caused by the Covid 19 pandemic. Apart from predicting the V-shaped economic recovery from September 2020, when every economic commentator at home and abroad foretold impending economic doom, Dr Subramanian has brought his reformist zeal to the fore by introducing a slew of 'second-generation' reforms that will generate inclusive growth for the Indian economy in coming decades."

Dr Subramanian also championed the case of 'Ethical wealth creation' in the Economic Survey 2019-20. 'By Integrating India's rich economic and spiritual heritage with modern economics, he advocated a marriage of the invisible hand of the market with the hand of ethics, i.e. a marriage of Artha with Dharma', his citation read.

The award recognised that India was the only country to implement supply-side measures to tackle the pandemic and identified early on that this would lead to severe supply-side disruptions. Dr Subramanian was also credited for providing the strategic blueprint for a virtuous cycle to create India's $5 trillion economy.

Earlier, Dr Subramanian was conferred the Distinguished Alumnus Award by his alma mater IIT Kanpur. He completed his Ph D from the Booth School of Business at Chicago University and worked across important positions to oversee a host of banking reforms. 

After receiving the award, Dr Subramanian thanked his professor Dr Rahul Mukherjee, who taught him statistics and recommended him for his Ph.D. "I did not feel my late father's absence as Prof Mukherjee filled that gap as a Guru. Afterall, guru is one's intellectual father."

The Indian School of Business is proud of Dr Krishnamurthy Subramanian's rare recognition. Professor Madan Pillutla, Dean, Indian School of Business congratulated him for this remarkable achievement. Professor Subramanian is the youngest recipient of this award. He also holds the distinction for being the youngest Chief Economic Adviser to the finance ministry.