Ajit Ranade, an economist, named vice-chancellor of the Gokhale Institute of Politics and Economics.

Ajit Ranade, an economist and political analyst, will take over as vice-chancellor of the Gokhale Institute of Politics and Economics in Pune (deemed to be a university) on February 4 for a five-year term.

Ranade, who is now the president and chief economist of the Aditya Birla Group, was selected by Dr Rajiv Kumar, vice-chairman of NITI Aayog and the institute's chancellor.

Ranade, an IIT Bombay and IIM Ahmedabad alumnus, received his doctorate from Brown University in the United States. He has taught international economic relations at the Indian Council for Research in New Delhi and the Indira Gandhi Institute of Development Research in Mumbai, as well as being a columnist.