V. R. Panchamukhi

As the Chancellor of Rashtriya Sanskrit Vidyapeetha, Tirupathi, for two terms (1998 - 2008), he was instrumental in launching innovative programs such as Sanskrit–Science exhibitions, Sansk-Net, and Digitization of Sanskrit Manuscripts. He launched a new department of Dvaita Vedanta at Rashtriya Sanskrit Vidyapeetha.

He was invited to work at the South Centre (organization), Geneva, by Julius Nyerere, the former President of Tanzania, and the then Chairman of the group. His analytical paper on the proposed Multilateral Agreement on Investment was utilized for negotiations at the WTO Ministerial Meetings (Singapore) in the 1990s.

He developed the "Research Information System (RIS)" for the Non-Aligned and other Developing Countries (an autonomous body established by the Ministry of External Affairs (India) in 1984) into an important 'think tank' of the developing world. It provided analytical inputs on international economic topics such as WTO, regional cooperation, investment flows and many others.

He was the Member Secretary of the "P. C. Alexander Committee on Import–Export Policies and Procedures" in 1977 that made path-breaking contributions to the process of liberalization of the trade policy regime in India.

Panchamukhi contributed to the field of economics in multiple ways. His work on the applications of game theory to International Trade Policy analysis was noted as a pioneering work by Jagdish Bhagwati in his Survey of Literature published in the Economic Journal of London School of Economics (1975). His work on 'Effective Rates of Protection and Domestic Resource Cost', prepared and published jointly with Bhagwati and T. N. Srinivasan, made a significant impact on the trade policy regimes of the 1960s and 1970s.

He worked on development models and resource gaps for the countries of the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP) region that were presented under the leadership of Nobel Laureate Jan Tinbergen while he was a staff member of the ESCAP (then ECAFE). This became the basis for Resource Transfer for Development in the ESCAP region in the 1970s. He delivered a lecture at the Special Session of the ESCAP (held in Shanghai, China) on 'Theme of Strategy for Least Developed Countries.' This was used for many resolutions at the ESCAP Special Session.

He stood 1st class 1st rank in Karnataka University studying mathematics and statistics in 1956. He was the first to achieve 82.5%. He also achieved 1st rank in Bombay University doing his master's degree in statistics with econometrics in 1958, for which he was awarded the Chancellor's Gold Medal. He completed his Ph.D. in Delhi School of Economics in 1963 with his thesis on 'Applications of Game Theory to Economic Policy and Planning with Illustrations from International Trade and Investments.'

V. R. Panchamukhi (also referred as Vadiraj Panchamukhi, and Vachaspati V. R. Panchamukhi), is an Indian Economist and Sanskrit scholar. He was born on September 17, 1936, in Dharwad, Karnataka. He is the eldest son of Vidyaratna Shri R. S. Panchamukhi, an archaeologist and indologist and Sanskrit Scholar.