The Road to Economic Recovery

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The pandemic lockdowns and disruptions have led to a steep contraction in India’s GDP and distressing losses for workers and firms. The government is grappling with an unenviable trade-off between preserving life and livelihoods. This panel of financial market experts will discuss the implications for India’s growth trajectory as the country navigates an uncharted path to economic recovery.

This webinar series is part of the Modern Indian Studies Initiative at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. As a leading public university and home to the largest Asia Studies Center in the southeastern U.S., Carolina is uniquely positioned to be at the forefront of advancing knowledge of modern India across North Carolina, the United States and beyond. In partnership with leaders from North Carolina’s Indian-American community, UNC has embarked on a bold initiative to transform the model for Indian Studies. We are forging ahead in establishing the country’s leading program in Modern Indian Studies – increasing knowledge and understanding of the India of today, and its rapidly evolving future.

about the panelists

Sajjid Z. Chinoy

Sajjid Z. Chinoy is J.P. Morgan’s Chief India Economist and also serves on the Advisory Council to the 15th Finance Commission set up by the Government of India. He has previously worked at the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and McKinsey & Company. He has also previously served as a member of the RBI’s “Expert Committee to Revise and Strengthen the Monetary Policy Framework” that proposed inflation targeting in India, was a consultant to the FRBM Review Committee set up by the government to proposed a new fiscal anchor, and a member of the Indian Banks Association (IBA) Monetary Policy Group. Since 2014, he has been ranked as one of the “Best Individuals in Research in India” by Asset Magazine. He has authored several publications on the Indian economy including co-editing a book on Indian economic reform: “Reforming India’s External, Fiscal and Financial Policies” with Dr. Anne O. Krueger. He received his Ph.D. in economics at Stanford University in 2001. 

Christian Lundblad  

Christian Lundblad is the Richard Levin Distinguished Professor of Finance, the Chair of the Finance Area, and the Associate Dean of the Ph.D. Program at the University of North Carolina’s Kenan-Flagler Business School.  He is also the Director of Research at the Kenan Institute of Private Enterprise and the Director of the Center for Excellence in Investment Management.  Finally, he holds a courtesy appointment as a Special-Term Professor at the  People’s Bank of China School of Finance, Tsinghua University in Beijing, China.  His research spans asset pricing, investment management, and international finance, with a specialization in emerging market development.  His research has been published in top academic journals, such as the  Journal of Finance, the  Review of Financial Studies, and the  Journal of Financial Economics.  He served as an Associate Editor for the  Journal of Finance, and now serves at the  Journal of Banking and Finance  and  Financial Management. 

Soumya Rajan 

Soumya Rajan is the founder of Waterfield Advisors, India’s largest independent Multi-Family Office and Wealth Advisory company and brings over 25 years of financial services experience. She started her career with ANZ Grindlays Bank (later Standard Chartered Bank) and spent 17 years with the Bank. Her last assignment was as Managing Director and Head Private Bank at Standard Chartered India. Since founding Waterfield in 2011, Soumya has advised several of India’s leading business families on their global investments, on issues related to the succession and continuity of their family enterprise, corporate and family governance, business strategy and philanthropy. The company presently advises on assets of  ~US$3.5bn  and is one of the most awarded Wealth Management firms in India. Apart from being recognized amongst India’s Top 100 Women in Finance, Soumya also serves on the Board of several non-profit organizations in the education space. Soumya was awarded the Radhakrishnan Scholarship to study at Oxford University where she completed her Masters in Mathematics and holds a B.A (Hons) in Mathematics from St. Stephen’s College, Delhi.  

Sonal Varma

Sonal Varma is Nomura’s Chief Economist, India and Asia ex-Japan, based in Singapore. Her responsibilities include analyzing key economic trends in the region and publishing in-depth reports on the economy as part of Nomura’s Asia ex-Japan Global Markets Research team. She joined Nomura in October 2008 from Lehman Brothers, where she served as India Economist. She previously worked as an Economist at ICICI Bank and rating agency CRISIL. Sonal was rated #1 on Research in India from 2012 to 2019 by The Asset Magazine and was among the Top 3 economists in India as ranked by the All-India Institutional Investor survey in 2013 – 2018. Sonal holds a Master’s in Economics from the Delhi School of Economics, India. 

Anusha Chari

Anusha Chari is a Professor of Economics and Finance and Director of the Modern Indian Studies Initiative at the  University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.  She is also a Research Associate in the National Bureau of Economic Research’s International Finance and Macroeconomics Program. She has held faculty positions at the University of Chicago, Michigan, and Berkeley. She was a special advisor to the Indian Prime Minister’s Economic Advisory Council and member of an Advisory Group of Eminent Persons on G20 Issues. Her research is in the fields of open-economy macroeconomics and international finance.  She is the author of multiple articles published in leading academic journals, such as the  Journal of Finance, Review of Financial Studies, Journal of Financial Economics, American Economic Journal-Macroeconomics and Journal of International Economics. She received a PhD in International Finance from UCLA and a BA in Philosophy, Politics and Economics at Balliol College at Oxford and Economics at the University of Delhi. 

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