Prof. Ajit Dayanandan

Prof. Ajit Dayanandan is a Professor of Finance at the College of Business and Public Policy, University of Alaska Anchorage and currently serves as a Visiting Professor at the Indian Institute of Management, Tiruchirappalli. He holds a Ph.D. from the University of Sydney, Australia, and an M.A. in Economics (Gold Medalist) from the University of Kerala. With over three decades of experience, including his tenure as Director of the Department of Economics and Policy Research at the Reserve Bank of India (1984-2001), Prof. Dayanandan is a pioneering researcher in corporate castism and its impact on business practices in India. His groundbreaking work examines caste primacy in auditor choice, corporate board member selection, merger and acquisition transactions, and caste diversity in corporate governance. He also specializes in corporate finance, banking and financial institutions, ESG studies, digital finance and FinTech, and earnings management. His extensive research portfolio includes 58+ peer-reviewed publications, with significant contributions to understanding how caste dynamics influence corporate decision-making and business relationships in contemporary India.