“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 . Prior to that, he was finance secretary and secretary to the prime minister’s Economic Advisory Council .

“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.

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