he received his school education in south point high school, a renowned educational institution in calcutta. after his schooling, he took admission at presidency college, then an affiliated college of the university of calcutta and now an autonomous university, where he completed his bsc(h) degree in economics in 1981. later, he completed his m.a. in economics at the jawaharlal nehru university (jnu), delhi in 1983. while studying in jnu, he was arrested and imprisoned in tihar jail during a protest after students gheraoed the then vice chancellor pn srivastava of the university. he was released on bail and charges were subsequently dropped against the students. later, he went on to obtain a phd in harvard university in 1988. the subject of his doctoral thesis was "essays in information economics."