Amiya Kumar Bagchi

Amiya Kumar Bagchi (1936 – 28 November 2024) was an Indian economic historian.

Life and career

Bagchi earned his masters in economics at Presidency College, Kolkata, and his PhD from Trinity College, Cambridge in 1963. His teaching career began at Presidency College, followed by a stint in the Faculty of Economics at the University of Cambridge in the 1960s, where he was a Fellow of Jesus College. He resigned his post in 1969 to return to Presidency College.

In 1974 he joined the newly founded Centre for Studies in Social Sciences, Calcutta.

Bagchi specialised in the history of Indian banking and finance, and acted as official historian of the State Bank of India until 1997.

After retiring in 2001 as Reserve Bank of India Chair Professor from the Centre for Studies in Social Sciences, Calcutta, he became the founder-director of the Institute of Development Studies, Kolkata.

Bagchi died on 28 November 2024.

Awards and honours

In 2005, Bagchi was awarded the Padma Shri.

Bibliography

Bagchi authored over 250 academic articles and authored and edited numerous books and monographs.

The books he authored included:

• 2010 Colonialism and Indian Economy, Oxford University Press
• 2005 ', Rowman & Littlefield Publishers
• 2004 The Developmental State in History and in the Twentieth Century, New Delhi: Regency
• 2002 Capital and Labour Redefined: India and the Third World, Anthem Press
• 1997 The Evolution of the State Bank of India: The Era of the Presidency Banks 1876–1920, Sage Publications
• 1989 The Presidency Banks and the Indian Economy 1876–1914, Bombay: Oxford University Press
• 1987 Public Intervention and Industrial Restructuring in China, India and Republic of Korea, New Delhi: ILO-ARTEP
• 1987, reissued 2006 The Evolution of the State Bank of India. The Roots, 1806–1876, Oxford University Press; reissued by Penguin Portfolio
• 1982 The Political Economy of Underdevelopment, Cambridge University Press
• 1972 Private Investment in India 1900–1939, Cambridge University Press