Dr. Ajit Ranade brings over thirty-five years of diverse experience spanning academic, research and corporate assignments. He is a noted economist and has served as the Vice Chancellor of the Gokhale Institute of Politics and Economics, Pune. Prior to this, he was the Group Executive President and Chief Economist of the Aditya Birla Group, one of India's leading multinational conglomerates.

Dr. Ranade has been Member of the Executive Committees of Apex Industry Chambers viz. CII, FICCI and MCCIA. He has also taught at renowned universities in India and the United States. He has published numerous articles in reputed journals and is a co-author of the award winning book ‘Rising to the China Challenge’. He is also a regular columnist for leading financial newspapers and has numerous columns on different areas of the economy.

Dr. Ranade holds B.Tech degree in Electrical Engineering from Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay and a management diploma from Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad and a PhD in Economics from Brown University. He received the Distinguished Alumnus Award from IIT, Bombay in 2009.