Deepak Nayyar was educated at St. Stephen's College, Delhi University and went on to study at Balliol College, Oxford University, where he was a Rhodes scholar. He was, for some time, in the Indian Administrative Service and later served as Economic Advisor in the Ministry of Commerce. More recently, he served as Chief Economic Advisor to the Government of India and Secretary in the Ministry of Finance. Currently professor of economics at Jawaharlal Nehru University, he has taught economics at Oxford University, the University of Sussex and the Indian Institute of Management, Calcutta.
Deepak Nayyar's previous books are India's Exports and Export Policies, Economic Relations Between Socialist Countries and the Third World, Migration, Remittances and Capital Flows and Economic Liberalization in India. He has also published several articles in professional journals.