| Indrajit Coomaraswamy | |
| Native Name: | Tamil: இந்திரஜித் குமாரசுவாமி Sinhala; Sinhalese: ඉන්ද්රජිත් කුමාරස්වාමි |
| Office: | Governor of the Central Bank of Sri Lanka |
| Term Start: | 2 July 2016 |
| Term End: | 20 December 2019 |
| Predecessor: | Arjuna Mahendran |
| Successor: | W. D. Lakshman |
| Birth Date: | 1950 4, df=yes |
| Birth Place: | Colombo, Ceylon |
| Nationality: | Sri Lankan/British |
| Spouse: | Tara de Fonseka |
| Children: | Imran, Arjun |
| Parents: | Rajendra Coomaraswamy (father) Wijeyamani (mother) |
| Relatives: | Radhika Coomaraswamy (sister) |
| Profession: | Economist |
Deshamanya Indrajit Coomaraswamy (Tamil: இந்திரஜித் குமாரசுவாமி, Sinhala; Sinhalese: ඉන්ද්රජිත් කුමාරස්වාමි; born 3 April 1950) is a Sri Lankan economist. He served as the 14th Governor of the Central Bank of Sri Lanka.[1] [2]
Coomaraswamy was born on 3 April 1950 in Colombo, Ceylon.[3] [4] He was the son of civil servant Rajendra Coomaraswamy (Roving Raju) and Wijeyamani.[5] [6] [7] His paternal grandfather C. Coomaraswamy was a civil servant and his maternal grandfather S. K. Wijeyaratnam was chairman of Negombo Urban Council.[5] [7] [8] He has one sister, Radhika.[5] [6] Coomaraswamy was educated at Royal College, Colombo and at Harrow School in England.[7] [9] [10] He was captain of Royal's primary cricket team.[8] He was captain of Harrow's cricket team from 1967 to 1968 and also played rugby for the school for three years.[4] [11]
After school he went to Emmanuel College, Cambridge, from where he received BA (Hons) and MA degrees.[7] [9] [12] He played two matches of first-class cricket for Cambridge University Cricket Club, one in 1971 and one in 1972.[3] [13] He then proceeded to the University of Sussex from where he obtained a DPhil degree.[7] [9] [12]
Coomaraswamy is married to Tara de Fonseka.[13] They have two sons – Imran and Arjun.[13] Coomaraswamy is a Sri Lankan Tamil.
Coomaraswamy joined the Central Bank of Sri Lanka in 1973, working as a staff officer in its Economic Research, Statistics and Bank Supervision divisions until 1989.[7] [9] [13] [14] He was seconded to the Ministry of Finance and Planning between 1981 and 1989 to provide advice on macroeconomic issues and structural reforms.[7] [9] [13] [14] [15] He worked at the Commonwealth Secretariat from 1990 to 2008, holding various posts including Chief Officer, Economics in the International Finance and Markets Section; Director of the Economic Affairs Division; and Deputy-Director of the Secretary-General's Office.[7] [9] [13] [14] He was an advisor to Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe and Project Minister of Economic Reforms, Science and Technology Milinda Moragoda between 2001 and 2002.[15]
Coomaraswamy rejoined the Commonwealth Secretariat in 2010 as Interim Director of its Social Transformation Programme Division.[7] [9] [13] [14] He was special advisor to the controversial Galleon Group hedge fund.[14] He was director of a British company called Galleon Research Services Limited, a wholly owned subsidiary of Galleon International Management LLC.[16] [17] He was appointed as a non-executive director of John Keells Holdings PLC in February 2011.[13] [18] He was appointed as a director of Tokyo Cement Group in March 2011.[13] [15] [19] He worked briefly for Hatton National Bank and was a director of SEEDS (Guarantee) Limited.[12] [15] [20] He was a member of the University of Sri Jayewardenepura's Board of Study (Public Administration) and a director of Nawaloka College of Higher Studies.[21] [22] He was later a senior advisor to Minister of Development Strategies and International Trade Malik Samarawickrama.[23] [24]
Coomaraswamy was appointed Governor of the Central Bank of Sri Lanka in July 2016, replacing Arjuna Mahendran whose tenure was mired by allegations of corruption.[10] [25] [26] He resigned from the position in December 2019.[27]
Coomaraswamy played rugby for Ceylonese Rugby & Football Club and captained the national team in the 1974 Rugby Asiad.[8] [11] [13] He also played cricket for the Tamil Union Cricket and Athletic Club.[8] [11] [13]
. Dictionary of Biography of the Tamils of Ceylon. 1997. 43. S. Arumugam.