New Delhi, Mar 20 (PTI) A book on the life and times of former RBI governor Duvvuri Subbarao will hit the stands on April 30, announced Penguin Random House India (PRHI) on Wednesday.
“Just A Mercenary?: Notes from My Life and Career” is touted to be the remarkable journey of a small-town boy from a modest background to the top echelons of India’s civil services and then on to the helm of the country’s central bank.
Subbarao served as governor of RBI for five years (2008-13). Prior to that, he was finance secretary (2007-08) and secretary to the prime minister’s Economic Advisory Council (2005-07).
“All through my career, I’ve tried to do my best. But the question that constantly runs in my mind is what motivated me. Was it just a sense of duty an obligation to do your best because you are getting paid for it? or Was I driven by a higher calling the need to give back to society for all that I have received?
“In short, Was I just a mercenary? or Was I more? The answer will perhaps elude me forever,” the author said in a statement.
At the start of his career as sub-collector of Parvathipuram sub-division in north-coastal Andhra Pradesh way back in 1974, Subbarao learnt that tribal development requires more than enthusiasm; it requires most of all an understanding of poverty.
Nearly 40 years later, in 2013, as the governor of the Reserve Bank of India in the midst of a fierce exchange rate crisis, Subbarao learnt the harsh challenges of emerging economies in an unequal world.
In a career spanning thirty-five years, he held various positions at the state level in the Andhra Pradesh government and at the centre. He was also a lead economist in the World Bank for over five years .
Through his memoir, the 74-year-old recounts his 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.
“‘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 find meaning in their journeys,” said the publishers in its description of the book.
Subbarao is currently a visiting faculty at the Kautilya School of Public Policy in Hyderabad and at Yale University in the US.
