At the start of his career as sub-collector of Parvathipuram sub-division in north-coastal Andhra Pradesh way back in 1974, Subbarao learnt―the hard way―that tribal development requires more than enthusiasm; it requires, most of all, an understanding of poverty.
Nearly forty years later, in 2013, as the governor of the Reserve Bank of India in the midst of a fierce exchange rate crisis, Subbarao learnt―once again the hard way―the harsh challenges of emerging economies in an unequal world.
Bookended by these assignments is the remarkable journey of a small-town boy from a modest background to the top echelons of India’s civil service and then on to the helm of the country’s central bank. Subbarao recounts that journey―his hopes and despair, his successes and setbacks, his mistakes and misdeeds, and the lessons he learnt along the way―with rare candour and honesty. The subtext of that story though is his constant soul searching about whether he has given back to society more than he received.
Just a Mercenary? is a warm, engaging and earnest account of an extraordinary career that is bound to inform and inspire young professionals trying to find their way up their career ladders and discover meaning in their journeys.
Duvvuri Subbarao served as governor of the Reserve Bank of India for five years (2008-13). Prior to that, he was finance secretary to the Government of India (2007-08) and secretary to the prime minister’s Economic Advisory Council (2005-07). Topping the civil services examination in 1972, Subbarao joined the Indian Administrative Service (IAS). In a career spanning thirty-five years, he held various positions at the state level in the Government of Andhra Pradesh and at the central level in the Government of India. He was a lead economist in the World Bank for over five years (1999-2004). After stepping down from the Reserve Bank of India in 2013, Subbarao was a Visiting Fellow, first at the National University of Singapore and later at the University of Pennsylvania. He is currently visiting faculty at the Kautilya School of Public Policy in Hyderabad and at Yale University in the US.
