Lord Meghnad Desai, economist and House of Lords member, passes away

Lord Meghnad Desai was the founder of the Meghnad Desai Academy of Economics

by e4m Staff
Published: Jul 30, 2025 9:00 AM | 1 min read

Lord Meghnad Desai, the renowned India-born British economist and member of the UK’s House of Lords, passed away on July 29 at the age of 85. According to reports, he breathed his last at a hospital in Gurugram following a health-related issue.

Lord Desai began his academic journey in the United States as an Associate Specialist in Agricultural Economics at the University of California, Berkeley. He joined the London School of Economics (LSE) in 1965 as a lecturer and rose to become a professor of economics in 1983. His first book, Marxian Economic Theory, was published in 1973.

Beyond academia, Desai was also a public intellectual. He wrote regularly for publications such as Tribune, Business Standard, Indian Express, and Financial Express. From 1984 to 1991, he served as co-editor of the Journal of Applied Econometrics. In 1995, a selection of his scholarly writings was compiled into two volumes titled The Selected Essays of Meghnad Desai.

He founded the Meghnad Desai Academy of Economics in Mumbai, which offers a one-year postgraduate diploma in economics in partnership with the University of Mumbai.

In 2008, the Government of India honoured him with the Padma Bhushan, the country’s third-highest civilian award, recognising his contributions to literature and education.