DR. A. BESANT C. RAJ is a well-known and respected Management and Financial consultant in India and abroad. He is an MBA from the Indian Institute of Management Ahmedabad (first batch). He also holds a doctoral degree in Business Administration, specializing in Financial Management from the Harvard Business School, Harvard University, USA. He has a Master's degree in Philosophy from Madras University and a Master's degree in Psychology from Banaras Hindu University. After a distinguished teaching career, which includes his tenure as the Director of Studies at the Administrative Staff College of India, Hyderabad, Dr. Raj founded the Management Consultancy Company, Besant Raj International Ltd (BRIL), at Chennai in 1979 with his wife.

Dr. Raj is the founder and former Chairman of the Institute of Chartered Financial Analysts of India (ICFAI), Hyderabad. He is on several corporate boards and till recently was on the board of Industrial Development Bank of India (IDBI). He is closely associated with several educational institutions like the Jawaharlal Nehru Institute of Development Banking of IDBI and was the Chancellor of the ICFAI University Dehradun, Uttaranchal. He is currently the Chairman of the board of The Madras Christian College, Tambaram, Chennai. He is also on the boards of Ispat Industries Ltd., Henkel India Ltd., Cochin Minerals and Rutile Ltd., SPEL Semi Conductor Ltd.

Dr. Raj has carried out several prestigious International and National consultancy assignments, which include clients such as The Ford Foundation, New York; The Common Wealth Fund for Technical Co-operation, London; The Economic Development Institute of the World Bank and the Iraq National Oil Company.

Dr. Raj was a member of the Panel of Judges to evaluate the performance of integrated Steel plants in India, for the Prime Minister's Award for the year 2000 - 2001. He was also a member of an Expert Committee appointed by the Tamil Nadu Government to evaluate the working of the State Level Public Enterprises in Tamil Nadu.

Some of the important publications of Dr. A.Besant.C.Raj include:

  • Public Enterprise Investment Decisions in India: A Managerial Analysis, Macmillian 1977, Reprinted 1978.

  • Corporate Financial Management: An Introduction, Tata McGraw Hill publishing company Ltd., 1978.Reprinted 1989, Second Edition 1991. Reprinted 1992. 1994 (Twelfth Reprint), Third Revised and enlarged Edition, 2003.

  • Unravelling the China Miracle-A comparative study with India (1950-2005), Book Surge Publishing-an Amazon.com Company, USA, 2006.