| Role | Professor of Economics |
| Institution | Central University of Gujarat (CUG), Vadodara |
| Tenure | 2012 – present [Associate Professor 2012–15; Professor 2015–] |
| Senior leadership | Dean, School of Social Sciences (2021–23); Chairperson, Centre for Studies in Economics & Planning |
| Mentorship | 8 Ph.D.s awarded (4 in progress) · 13 M.Phil. dissertations guided |
My association with Central University of Gujarat spans more than a decade — a journey from establishing the foundations of a young economics programme to leading the University’s School of Social Sciences. What follows is an account of that work across two phases: building research and teaching foundations as an Associate Professor (2012–15), and taking on senior academic leadership as a Professor and Dean (2015–present).
Academic leadership and governance
Across both phases, I have served in a range of statutory and administrative roles in the University’s governance:
| Period | Role |
|---|---|
| 2013–14 | Chairperson, Centre for Studies in Economics & Planning |
| 2013–16 | Member, Academic Council |
| 2013–15 | Proctor |
| 2013–15 | Coordinator, M.Ed. Programme |
| Jan–Mar 2014 | Dean of Students’ Welfare; Central Public Information Officer |
| 2014–16 | Nodal Officer, Online Students’ Grievance Redressal Portal |
| 2020–22 | Chairperson, Centre for Studies in Economics & Planning (second term) |
| 2021–22 | Member, Academic Council (second term) |
| Oct 2021 – Feb 2023 | Dean, School of Social Sciences |
| 2021–23 | Member, Executive Council |
| 2021–present | Chairman, NAAC SSR Preparation Committee |
| 2020–present | Member, Statutes & Ordinance Committee |
| 2024–27 | Member, Court of the University |
| 2025 | Chairperson, Annual Report Committee 2024–25 |
(Alongside these, I serve on the School and Department Boards of Studies and on the Admission, Purchase, and related committees.)
Research mentorship
Guiding doctoral and pre-doctoral scholars has been the most rewarding part of this work. Eight Ph.D. theses have been completed under my supervision, with three more in progress — spanning regional development, industrial economics, labour, and gender:
| Awarded | Scholar | Thesis |
|---|---|---|
| 2025 | Sandhya Dwivedi | E-commerce adoption by handicraft enterprises in Uttar Pradesh |
| 2023 | Baijayanti Rout | Mining and the environmental movement in Odisha (Gandhamardan Hill) |
| 2022 | Hema Prakash | Female labour-force participation: inter-state variations |
| 2022 | Ankur Yadav | State-wise market performance of the unorganised manufacturing sector |
| 2021 | Vandana Kapoor | Social class and enterprise ownership in unorganised manufacturing |
| 2019 | Krishna R. Lala | Industrial R&D activities in Gujarat |
| 2018 | Tareef Husain | Export concerns of Indian SMEs: a regional assessment |
| 2017 | Kishor K. Jadhav | International trade and labour-market outcomes in Indian manufacturing |
Alongside these, I have guided 13 M.Phil. dissertations on regional development, industrialisation, entrepreneurship, and gender. Several scholars worked with me across both degrees — both Tareef Husain and Krishna Lala completed their M.Phil. dissertations under my supervision in 2014 (on the pharmaceutical and IT industries, respectively) before going on to the doctorate — and more recent M.Phil. scholars include Shubha Ranjan Patra (2023), Akankhya Samal (2022), and Arpita Sahay (2022).
Curriculum development
A substantial part of my contribution has been designing the economics curriculum at both master’s and doctoral levels — building courses from the ground up as the programme grew.
For the MA in Economics (2015–16), I independently designed five core four-credit courses — Microeconomics, Mathematical Economics, Econometrics I, Econometrics II, and International Trade & Finance — and co-designed three more: Political Economy of India and Gender Economics (with Dr. Tulika Tripathi), and Industrial Economics (with Dr. Vinod Sen). For the M.Phil.–Ph.D. programme (2019), I designed the two research-methodology courses and revised Advanced Microeconomic Theory.
Publications, engagement, and beyond
As a Professor at CUG, my research output includes ten peer-reviewed journal articles, a guest-edited special issue (Indian Outward FDI and MNEs, Transnational Corporations, 2017), a co-authored monograph (Manufacturing Exports from Indian States — Springer, 2016), a co-edited volume (Growth and Development in India: Regional Dimensions — Segment Books, 2018), and a chapter in the ASEAN Investment Report 2017. The articles span SME formation, international business, regional development, and innovation.
On the dissemination side, I delivered the 8th Prof. K. M. Pattnaik Memorial Lecture (2021), convened a two-week Research Methodology Training Programme (June 2021), and contributed to numerous workshops and seminars. More recently, I have lectured on academic leadership in higher education (2025) and on quantitative analysis of qualitative data at Goa University (2025).
Beyond economics, this period has kept space for creative work — the documentary Balco Agitation (2020), the poetry collections Ashanta Ekanta (Odia) and Whither Otherwhere? (English), and more than thirty-five poems in The Critical Mirror.
In reflection
My decade at Central University of Gujarat traces an arc from building academic foundations to providing institutional leadership — from designing a young department’s first courses to serving as Dean. Throughout, the constants have been research, mentorship, and a belief that a strong economics programme is built course by course and scholar by scholar, with room kept for the creative life alongside the academic one.
Related on this site
- Full academic profile — Who I Am
- Featured Scholars mentored at CUG: Dr. Tareef Husain · Dr. Ankur Yadav
- Where Do India’s Small Businesses Thrive? The Geography of Entrepreneurship
- Manufacturing Exports from Indian States (Springer, 2016) and Growth and Development in India: Regional Dimensions (Segment Books, 2018)
