Viral Acharya Keynote Speaker

CV Starr Professor of Economics at NYU Stern School of Business
Former deputy governor of the Reserve Bank of India
Expert on India's economy, corporate finance, banking regulation and credit risk

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Viral Acharya's Biography

Viral Acharya is a leading Indian economist, known for his inspiring and outspoken views.

The CV Starr Professor of Economics at NYU Stern previously taught at London Business School and is one of the world’s most cited researchers. For three consecutive years, Acharya was named alongside 6,938 researchers on Clarivate’s ‘List of Highly Cited Researchers’.

Besides his formidable academic profile, Acharya was the youngest, former deputy governor of the Reserve Bank of India. Appointed during a tumultuous period, Acharya was a staunch defender of the central bank’s independence before his resignation in June 2019.

Acharya has been an academic adviser to the Federal Reserve Banks of Chicago, Cleveland, New York and Philadelphia, and the Board of Governors. He has provided academic expert service to the Bank for International Settlements, the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank.

He is a member of the climate-related Financial Risk Advisory Committee of the Financial Stability Oversight Council. Before, he served as a member of the Economic Advisory Committee of the Financial Industry Regulation Authority, International Advisory Board of the Securities and Exchange Board of India, Advisory Council of the Bombay (Mumbai) Stock Exchange (BSE) Training Institute, and Academic Research Council Member of the Center for Advanced Financial Research and Learning.

In 2020, Viral Acharya published his RBI speeches in the form of a book titled ‘Quest for Restoring Financial Stability in India’. In the book, Acharya details much-needed reforms to India’s financial system. He is also the co-author of ‘Guaranteed to Fail: Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, and the Debacle of Mortgage Finance’ and the decorated author of more than 370 research papers and journal articles.

Acharya’s research papers have won several best paper prizes at journals and conferences. He was a recipient of the inaugural Banque de France – Toulouse School of Economics Junior Prize in Monetary Economics and Finance (2011) and was awarded the 2017 Alexandre Lamfalussy Senior Research Fellowship of the Bank for International Settlements (BIS).

Known for his work in financial stability, Acharya is a highly sought-after speaker on topics such as sovereign debt and international corporate finance, economic and fiscal policy, monetary regulation, and climate-change related financial risks.