Introduction

The Department of Economics of the University of Mumbai, formerly called the Bombay School of Economics, was established on 21st August 1921 and is currently considered as one of the leading centres of teaching and research in economics in the country. Since 1963, the department has been recognized by the University Grants Commission (UGC) as a Centre of Advanced Study (CAS) in Industrial Economics and Public Finance; and all UGC expert committees, which have visited the department have consistently rated the work of this centre as “Excellent”. In the most recent peer review carried out by the National Academic & Accreditation Council (NAAC) in January 2001, the University of Mumbai was awarded the highest possible (5-star) rating, while the Department of Economics – which contributed immensely towards this overall ranking – was identified as one of the best departments in the university.

Over the last 80 years of its existence, the Department has played a leading role in the development and advancement of the subject at, both, the national as well as international levels besides being one of the few countervailing focal points in the country for the formation of public opinion on economic issues of extreme topical relevance, ranging from alternative planning strategies (in the mid-fifties) to appropriate liberalization measures (in the early nineties). Under the inspired and visionary leadership of all the previous directors of the department – notably Professors C.N. Vakil, M.L. Dantwala, D.T. Lakdawala and P.R. Brahmananda – as well as the dedicated work of its faculty and scholars, the Department is now the most prolific centre in the country as far as imparting instruction and training at the M.A. level, as well as guidance and supervision at the Ph.D. level are concerned. Apart from a sanctioned strength of 30 teaching staff (comprising 13 Professors, 10 Readers and 7 Lecturers), in addition to 10 research staff, the department had 483 students enrolled for the M.A. degree course and 102 students registered for the Ph.D. degree course in 2002-03 – easily making it the second largest department in the university, both in terms of faculty and students, after the University Department of Chemical Technology (UDCT) (now called the Mumbai University Institute of Chemical Technology).

Despite all these achievements, the department has never forgotten that its raison d’etre revolves around providing high quality instruction for the M.A. degree in Economics, as well as providing all possible facilities for guidance for the Ph.D. degree in Economics. It has possibly the highest annual intake of students for the M.A. programme at the all-India level with its faculty members engaging almost 80 lectures per week for the M.A. degree classes. Despite the vast amounts of time and energy expended in pursuing its teaching and guidance responsibilities, it is a matter of great pride to mention here that our faculty members have been absolutely unstinting in their research efforts, with many of them having worked intensively in a number of diverse areas in economics over the years, which is evident from all their publications. For the record, over the last five years, the department has had, to its credit, 325 publications in all, including 22 books/monographs, 203 research articles, 84 working/conference papers and 16 project reports.