IMF director Gita Gopinath receives accolades on Mysuru homecoming

Mysuru: It was her first visit to India after taking over as Economic Counsellor and Director of the Research Department at the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and Gita Gopinath’s family in Mysuru couldn't have been prouder.

“My house was full of flowers and bouquets. My wife Vijayalakshmi and I are very proud of Gita,” said her father,  T V Gopinath, talking of his daughter's  brief visit to her hometown to participate in  the golden jubilee celebrations of the JSS Mahavidyapeet, that honoured her on Monday for her meteoric rise to the top in the IMF.  

Not many could have foreseen the prestigious post awaiting her when like any other Mysuru girl, Gita Gopinath too did her schooling at the Nirmala Convent before doing her PU at the Mahajana's college here. She did show immense potential, however, as she left her hometown soon afterwards to do her BA honours from the Lady Sriram College in Delhi and later study at the Delhi School of Economics, where she topped her class.

Proving a hard worker, she moved to the US to do her Ph.D from the Princeton University and joined Chicago University as assistant professor in 2001.  

To her delight, she was invited by Harvard University to serve as visiting professor, and in 2008, was offered its tenured professorship (lifetime). But there was more to come and IMF  proved to be her crowning glory.    

“She works 18 hours a day and has no such thing as a holiday. She was working with her computer for the IMF even while she was home spending time with her sister Anitha and friends from the Nirmala Convent and Mahajana's College,” said Mr Gopinath.

At the function where she was honoured, she spoke in Kannada to begin with, and touched on a range of subjects including the world economy, the Indian economy, globalisation,  loan waivers, and climate change, he recalled.

“She pointed out that while globalisation has brought down poverty  from 42 per cent in 1981 to 10 per cent in 2015 globally, the income disparity between the rich and poor has increased,” Mr Gopinath said, his eyes shining with pride in his daughter's acheivements.