Abhishek Bharadwaj

I am an Assistant Professor of Finance at the Indian School of Business. I received my Ph.D. in Finance from the NYU Stern School of Business.

My research examines how financial institutions shape credit allocation, financial stability, and real economic outcomes. I study banking, private equity, and the growing role of non-bank financial institutions in modern financial systems. A second stream of my research examines how firms adapt to climate change and natural disasters, with a focus on employment, investment, and productivity. My research has been published or accepted in leading finance and economics journals, including the Review of Financial Studies, Journal of Political Economy: Macroeconomics, and Journal of Financial and Quantitative Analysis. It has been supported by research grants from organizations including the National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER) and presented at leading academic, policy, and industry forums. I teach corporate finance at the graduate level.

My work sits at the intersection of academia, industry, and public policy. I serve as an Independent Director at Zerodha Trustee Private Limited, where I focus on governance, risk oversight, and regulatory issues arising from the rapid growth of passive investing and retail participation in financial markets. Before academia, I worked at Deutsche Bank, where I was closely involved with financial markets and hedge fund clients.

I believe rigorous academic research can play an important role in informing financial practice and public policy. My research combines large-scale data with modern empirical methods to address questions that matter to regulators, financial institutions, investors, and policymakers. I welcome opportunities to collaborate with researchers, industry practitioners, and public institutions on data-driven research and policy questions.

• PhD in Finance, NYU Stern School of Business, 2022
• Dual Degree in Metallurgical Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology, 2012

Professional positions

• 2026 - Present: Assistant Professor of Finance, Indian School of Business.
• 2023 - Present: Independent Director, Zerodha Trustee Private Limited
• 2022 - 2026: Assistant Professor of Finance, Tulane University, A. B. Freeman School of Business.
• 2014 - 2016: Researcher, Centre for Analytical Finance, Indian School of Business.
• 2012 - 2014: Analyst, Fixed Income, Currency and Commodities (FICC) Division, Deutsche Bank.

• October 11, 2024: Debt investors resigned to backing private equity dividend recaps, Financial Times
• September 20, 2024: The dodgy details of private equity’s ‘dividend recaps, Financial Times