Renowned economist and chairman of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Economic Advisory Council, Bibek Debroy, passed away at AIIMS, Delhi,at the age of 69 on Friday. Debroy, a Padma Shri awardee, was known for his extensive contributions to economic policy and development in India.
Hospital sources said he was admitted to the AIIMS emergency around 10 pm on Thursday and died at 7 am on Friday. They added that the cause of death was subacute intestinal obstruction. The sources further informed that he had a history of diabetes, hypertension and a blockage in the heart for which he had a pacemaker.
Before his role on the advisory council, Debroy served as the chancellor of the Gokhale Institute of Politics and Economics (GIPE) in Pune, where he was instrumental in promoting economic research and scholarship.Debroy had been the EAC chairman since September 2017. He was awarded the Padma Shri in 2015.
Reacting to the news, Prime Minister Narendra Modi termed Debroy as a towering scholar. “Dr. Bibek Debroy Ji was a towering scholar, well-versed in diverse domains like economics, history, culture, politics, spirituality and more. Through his works, he left an indelible mark on India’s intellectual landscape. Beyond his contributions to public policy, he enjoyed working on our ancient texts, making them accessible to the youth,” the PM wrote on X.
With his demise, he left behind an influential legacy in both Indian economic policy and literature. He was educated at Ramakrishna Mission School, Narendrapur; Presidency College, Kolkata; Delhi School of Economics; and Trinity College, Cambridge.
He had worked in Presidency College, Kolkata; Gokhale Institute of Politics and Economics, Pune; Indian Institute of Foreign Trade, Delhi; and also as the Director of a Ministry of Finance/UNDP project on legal reforms.
His expertise spanned macroeconomics, public finance, and infrastructure, with a particular focus on economic reforms, governance, and the modernisation of the Indian railways. In addition to his policy work, Debroy was celebrated for his dedication to Sanskrit texts, with extensive writings that bridged economics and cultural scholarship.
